Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Stake in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Ormat Technologies by 1.5% in Q1, holding approximately 5.95 million shares worth $421 million, representing about 9.82% of the company.
• Ormat Technologies reported earnings of $0.48 per share for the quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a revenue increase of 9.9% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.12, which will be paid on September 3rd, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 0.5%.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA - Free Report) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,952,323 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 91,673 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.82% of Ormat Technologies worth $421,244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Ormat Technologies by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 16,100 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,139,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Ormat Technologies by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,687 shares of the energy company's stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Ormat Technologies by 42.6% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 880 shares of the energy company's stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Ormat Technologies by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,440 shares of the energy company's stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Ormat Technologies by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 32,180 shares of the energy company's stock worth $2,277,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.49% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ORA. Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Ormat Technologies in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Baird R W raised shares of Ormat Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Ormat Technologies from $90.00 to $89.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ormat Technologies in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ormat Technologies from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the company from $87.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $92.10.

Ormat Technologies Stock Up 1.6%

NYSE:ORA opened at $89.74 on Friday. Ormat Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.58 and a fifty-two week high of $91.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.74, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $86.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.76.

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The energy company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.11. Ormat Technologies had a net margin of 14.49% and a return on equity of 5.47%. The business had revenue of $234.02 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $225.26 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. The company's revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ormat Technologies, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ormat Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 20th. Ormat Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.33%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Michal Marom sold 895 shares of Ormat Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.47, for a total value of $65,755.65. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,080 shares in the company, valued at $226,287.60. This trade represents a 22.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Byron G. Wong sold 460 shares of Ormat Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.04, for a total transaction of $38,658.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,659 shares of the company's stock, valued at $727,702.36. This trade represents a 5.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,379 shares of company stock valued at $353,998 over the last 90 days. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ormat Technologies 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.

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