Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Ormat Technologies has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, with 8 buy ratings and 4 hold ratings among 12 analysts covering the stock. The average 12-month price target is about $133.18.
• The company posted a strong quarterly earnings beat, reporting $1.30 EPS versus the $0.92 estimate and revenue of $403.91 million, up 75.8% from a year earlier. Analysts now expect full-year EPS of 2.35.
• Insiders have been selling shares recently, including the CFO and a director, while institutional ownership remains high at 95.49%. The stock also traded near $140.21, close to its 52-week high of $146.39.

Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $133.1818.

Several analysts have recently commented on ORA shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $144.00 target price on shares of Ormat Technologies in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Ormat Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $130.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their target price on Ormat Technologies from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Ormat Technologies from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ormat Technologies from $106.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Assi Ginzburg sold 17,776 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.75, for a total value of $2,395,316.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1,970 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,457.50. This trade represents a 90.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michal Marom sold 3,080 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.97, for a total value of $403,387.60. Following the sale, the director owned 1,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $231,293.02. This represents a 63.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 30,721 shares of company stock valued at $4,105,657 over the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ormat Technologies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,910,292 shares of the energy company's stock worth $211,036,000 after acquiring an additional 43,749 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,611,360 shares of the energy company's stock worth $178,033,000 after acquiring an additional 102,864 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies by 32.7% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,147,863 shares of the energy company's stock worth $128,469,000 after acquiring an additional 282,583 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies by 62.6% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,073,639 shares of the energy company's stock worth $89,928,000 after acquiring an additional 413,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies by 155.8% during the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 886,526 shares of the energy company's stock worth $97,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,000 shares in the last quarter. 95.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ormat Technologies Stock Performance

ORA opened at $140.21 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.62 billion, a PE ratio of 68.06, a P/E/G ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $117.23. Ormat Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $76.96 and a fifty-two week high of $146.39.

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $403.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.17 million. Ormat Technologies had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 10.97%.The company's revenue was up 75.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ormat Technologies will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ormat Technologies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. Ormat Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.30%.

About Ormat Technologies

Ormat Technologies, Inc is a leading renewable energy company specializing in geothermal and recovered energy power plants. Through its vertically integrated business model, Ormat designs, develops, engineers, constructs, owns and operates clean energy projects worldwide. The company's core technology centers on the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), which converts heat from geothermal sources or industrial waste streams into sustainable electricity without combustion.

Ormat's offering includes turnkey power plant solutions, proprietary ORC equipment and ongoing operations and maintenance services.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.