WBI Investments LLC Makes New Investment in Portland General Electric Company $POR

Key Points

• WBI Investments LLC has acquired 22,276 shares of Portland General Electric Company, representing an investment of approximately $994,000.
• Equities analysts have upgraded Portland General Electric from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold," while varying price targets have been set among other analysts, with a consensus target of $45.40.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.525 per share, which equates to an annual yield of 5.0% for shareholders of record by September 25th.

WBI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 22,276 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $994,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Portland General Electric by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,472,333 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $556,266,000 after purchasing an additional 559,201 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Portland General Electric by 22.8% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,864,352 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $216,950,000 after purchasing an additional 904,692 shares during the period. ATLAS Infrastructure Partners UK Ltd. lifted its stake in Portland General Electric by 164.5% in the first quarter. ATLAS Infrastructure Partners UK Ltd. now owns 4,400,635 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $196,268,000 after buying an additional 2,736,811 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Portland General Electric by 14.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,878,528 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $128,382,000 after buying an additional 366,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP lifted its stake in Portland General Electric by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 2,306,227 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $100,598,000 after buying an additional 463,685 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

POR has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Portland General Electric from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Zacks Research raised shares of Portland General Electric from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Portland General Electric from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.40.

Portland General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of POR stock traded down $0.23 on Tuesday, hitting $42.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 295,785 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,166,300. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock's 50 day moving average is $41.85 and its 200-day moving average is $42.20. Portland General Electric Company has a fifty-two week low of $39.54 and a fifty-two week high of $49.85. The company has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a PE ratio of 15.55, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.63.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.01. Portland General Electric had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 8.07%. The business had revenue of $807.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $797.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. Portland General Electric's revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Portland General Electric has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.130-3.330 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Portland General Electric Company will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Portland General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 25th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 25th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. Portland General Electric's dividend payout ratio is 77.49%.

Insider Activity at Portland General Electric

In other Portland General Electric news, Director Michael A. Lewis sold 1,937 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.10, for a total transaction of $77,673.70. Following the sale, the director directly owned 13,509 shares in the company, valued at $541,710.90. This represents a 12.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Joseph R. Trpik, Jr. sold 2,603 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.35, for a total transaction of $107,634.05. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 27,089 shares in the company, valued at $1,120,130.15. The trade was a 8.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,436 shares of company stock worth $988,388. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

About Portland General Electric

Portland General Electric Company, an integrated electric utility company, engages in the generation, wholesale purchase, transmission, distribution, and retail sale of electricity in the state of Oregon. It operates six thermal plants, three wind farms, and seven hydroelectric facilities. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned an electric transmission system consisting of 1,254 circuit miles, including 287 circuit miles of 500 kilovolt line, 413 circuit miles of 230 kilovolt line, and 554 miles of 115 kilovolt line; and served 934 thousand retail customers in 51 cities.