Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $18.35 Million Stock Position in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA - Free Report) by 66.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 259,258 shares of the energy company's stock after purchasing an additional 103,352 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned about 0.43% of Ormat Technologies worth $18,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ormat Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $265,000. Entropy Technologies LP raised its stake in shares of Ormat Technologies by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 6,467 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Ormat Technologies by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 15,900 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Ormat Technologies by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 418,653 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $28,352,000 after purchasing an additional 33,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ormat Technologies by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 131,906 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $8,933,000 after purchasing an additional 7,025 shares in the last quarter. 95.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ORA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Baird R W upgraded Ormat Technologies to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Ormat Technologies from $78.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Barclays upgraded Ormat Technologies from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ormat Technologies from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ormat Technologies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ormat Technologies presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $84.14.

Ormat Technologies Trading Down 0.8%

Ormat Technologies stock traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $79.10. The stock had a trading volume of 321,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 482,199. Ormat Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $61.58 and a 12 month high of $84.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 40.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.60.

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The energy company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.10. Ormat Technologies had a return on equity of 5.27% and a net margin of 13.33%. The firm had revenue of $229.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $228.33 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ormat Technologies, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Ormat Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Ormat Technologies's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.30%.

Insider Transactions at Ormat Technologies

In related news, Director Michal Marom sold 895 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.47, for a total transaction of $65,755.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $226,287.60. This trade represents a 22.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dafna Sharir sold 876 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $65,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,438 shares in the company, valued at $332,850. The trade was a 16.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,297 shares of company stock valued at $242,374 over the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Ormat Technologies

Ormat Technologies, Inc engages in the geothermal and recovered energy power business in the United States, Indonesia, Kenya, Turkey, Chile, Guatemala, Guadeloupe, New Zealand, Honduras, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Electricity, Product, and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment develops, builds, owns, and operates geothermal, solar photovoltaic, and recovered energy-based power plants; and sells electricity.