Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases New Shares in OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 56,300 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,967,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OGE. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in OGE Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in OGE Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in OGE Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in OGE Energy by 572.5% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,466 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 1,248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in OGE Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Institutional investors own 71.84% of the company's stock.

OGE Energy Price Performance

Shares of OGE Energy stock traded up $0.90 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $34.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,423,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,562,111. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $33.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.03. OGE Energy Corp. has a one year low of $31.25 and a one year high of $38.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.73.

OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $566.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $986.67 million. OGE Energy had a net margin of 15.59% and a return on equity of 9.37%. The firm's revenue was down 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. On average, analysts predict that OGE Energy Corp. will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

OGE Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Monday, April 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.418 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 5th. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.91%. OGE Energy's payout ratio is 80.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OGE has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of OGE Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. TheStreet downgraded shares of OGE Energy from a "b" rating to a "c+" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded shares of OGE Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of OGE Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.40.

Insider Activity at OGE Energy

In related news, VP Cristina F. Mcquistion sold 4,187 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.92, for a total transaction of $142,023.04. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $879,409.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

OGE Energy 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.