Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Shares in Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 28,400 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,231,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Portland General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $256,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 44,308 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,920,000 after buying an additional 1,172 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 205.1% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 78,278 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,338,000 after buying an additional 52,620 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 23,761 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,030,000 after buying an additional 3,400 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 4,233.3% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,820 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 1,778 shares during the period.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Benjamin Felton sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.60, for a total value of $142,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,297,170. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company's stock.

Portland General Electric Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Portland General Electric stock traded up $0.25 on Tuesday, reaching $43.54. 914,739 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 967,075. The company has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58 and a beta of 0.57. Portland General Electric has a 52 week low of $38.01 and a 52 week high of $51.58. The firm's 50-day moving average is $41.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $725.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $740.21 million. Portland General Electric had a return on equity of 7.21% and a net margin of 7.80%. Portland General Electric's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Portland General Electric will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Portland General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.59%. This is a boost from Portland General Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 24th. Portland General Electric's dividend payout ratio is presently 81.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on POR. Barclays lowered their price objective on Portland General Electric from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Portland General Electric from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Portland General Electric from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $55.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Monday, February 5th. UBS Group raised shares of Portland General Electric from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $47.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Mizuho reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $42.00 target price (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Portland General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $45.13.

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.