Phoenix Financial Ltd. Sells 10,500 Shares of Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA)

Key Points

• Phoenix Financial Ltd. reduced its stake in Ormat Technologies by 21.9%, owning 37,500 shares worth approximately $2.65 million after selling 10,500 shares in the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Harel Insurance Investments, significantly increased their holdings in Ormat Technologies, highlighting strong interest in the stock.
• Analysts have upgraded Ormat Technologies, with UBS increasing the price target to $105 and reaffirming a "buy" rating, while the stock maintains a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Phoenix Financial Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA - Free Report) by 21.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 37,500 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 10,500 shares during the period. Phoenix Financial Ltd. owned 0.06% of Ormat Technologies worth $2,654,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ormat Technologies by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,043,996 shares of the energy company's stock worth $409,305,000 after buying an additional 274,540 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Ormat Technologies by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,586,479 shares of the energy company's stock worth $107,440,000 after buying an additional 93,418 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ormat Technologies by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,373,426 shares of the energy company's stock worth $93,029,000 after buying an additional 72,135 shares during the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its stake in Ormat Technologies by 273,109.4% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 956,233 shares of the energy company's stock worth $67,673,000 after buying an additional 955,883 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Ormat Technologies during the fourth quarter worth $62,851,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.49% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Ormat Technologies

In other Ormat Technologies news, Director Stanley Stern sold 547 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.54, for a total value of $46,790.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,137 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $524,958.98. This represents a 8.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David Granot sold 950 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.10, for a total transaction of $69,445.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at $198,320.30. The trade was a 25.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,329 shares of company stock valued at $423,443 over the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ormat Technologies Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NYSE:ORA traded up $2.40 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $90.55. 196,437 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 504,325. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $82.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.73. The company has a market cap of $5.49 billion, a PE ratio of 43.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.64. Ormat Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $61.58 and a 12 month high of $91.81.

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The energy company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $229.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $228.33 million. Ormat Technologies had a net margin of 14.18% and a return on equity of 5.35%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ormat Technologies, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ormat Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 21st. Ormat Technologies's payout ratio is presently 23.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ORA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ormat Technologies from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ormat Technologies from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ormat Technologies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ormat Technologies from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $87.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ormat Technologies from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $91.25.

Ormat Technologies Company Profile

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.