Short Interest in OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE) Decreases By 17.7%

OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,780,000 shares, a decrease of 17.7% from the March 31st total of 5,810,000 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,570,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at OGE Energy

In other news, VP Cristina F. Mcquistion sold 4,187 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.92, for a total transaction of $142,023.04. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company's stock, valued at $879,409.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.53% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OGE Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of OGE Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $108,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of OGE Energy by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 57,600 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,976,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of OGE Energy by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 132,832 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,556,000 after purchasing an additional 6,404 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of OGE Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $250,000. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of OGE Energy by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 27,919 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $958,000 after purchasing an additional 884 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.84% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. TheStreet downgraded OGE Energy from a "b" rating to a "c+" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays downgraded OGE Energy from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded OGE Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded OGE Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.40.

OGE Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:OGE traded down $0.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $33.82. 1,190,658 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,434,453. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $33.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.08. OGE Energy has a fifty-two week low of $31.25 and a fifty-two week high of $38.04.

OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $566.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $986.67 million. OGE Energy had a return on equity of 9.37% and a net margin of 15.59%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that OGE Energy will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OGE Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 8th were paid a $0.418 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 5th. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. OGE Energy's payout ratio is 80.68%.

OGE Energy Company Profile

OGE Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy services provider in the United States. The company generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric energy. In addition, it provides retail electric service to approximately 896,000 customers, which covers a service area of approximately 30,000 square miles in Oklahoma and western Arkansas; and owns and operates coal-fired, natural gas-fired, wind-powered, and solar-powered generating assets.