Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) Upgraded by Baird R W to "Strong-Buy" Rating

Key Points

• Ormat Technologies has been upgraded from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating by Baird R W, indicating increased analyst confidence in the stock's potential.
• Analysts have varied opinions on the stock, with price targets being adjusted upward by several firms, notably UBS Group raising their target from $100.00 to $105.00.
• Ormat Technologies reported earnings of $0.68 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations, while also seeing a year-over-year revenue increase of 2.5%.

Baird R W upgraded shares of Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA - Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ORA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ormat Technologies from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ormat Technologies from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ormat Technologies from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $87.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ormat Technologies from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ormat Technologies from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $91.25.

Ormat Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ORA traded down $0.70 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $88.71. The company had a trading volume of 442,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 448,687. The company's 50 day moving average price is $83.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.68. Ormat Technologies has a 52-week low of $61.58 and a 52-week high of $91.81.

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The energy company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $229.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $228.33 million. Ormat Technologies had a net margin of 14.18% and a return on equity of 5.35%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ormat Technologies will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ormat Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Ormat Technologies's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.30%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Granot sold 950 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.10, for a total transaction of $69,445.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,713 shares in the company, valued at $198,320.30. This represents a 25.94% 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 895 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.47, for a total value of $65,755.65. Following the sale, the director owned 3,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $226,287.60. This represents a 22.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,329 shares of company stock valued at $423,443. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ormat Technologies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ORA. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ormat Technologies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $204,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ormat Technologies by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,043,996 shares of the energy company's stock worth $409,305,000 after purchasing an additional 274,540 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ormat Technologies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $62,851,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in shares of Ormat Technologies by 128.6% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 18,725 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,268,000 after purchasing an additional 10,535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ormat Technologies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $526,000. 95.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ormat Technologies Company Profile

Ormat Technologies, Inc engages in the geothermal and recovered energy power business in the United States, Indonesia, Kenya, Turkey, Chile, Guatemala, Guadeloupe, New Zealand, Honduras, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Electricity, Product, and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment develops, builds, owns, and operates geothermal, solar photovoltaic, and recovered energy-based power plants; and sells electricity.