Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Wall Street is cautious on Portland General Electric. The stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” from 10 analysts, with an average 12-month price target of $51.00.
• Quarterly results missed expectations. Portland General Electric reported EPS of $0.58 versus the $0.77 estimate, and revenue of $879 million also came in below forecasts.
• The company raised its dividend. The new quarterly payout is $0.5513 per share, up from $0.53, giving the stock an annualized dividend of $2.21 and a yield of about 4.5%.

Shares of Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the ten research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $51.00.

Several analysts have commented on POR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Portland General Electric from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Portland General Electric in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Portland General Electric in a research note on Friday. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Portland General Electric in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Portland General Electric from $47.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th.

Portland General Electric Stock Up 2.1%

NYSE:POR opened at $49.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.70 billion, a PE ratio of 22.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.54. Portland General Electric has a twelve month low of $39.54 and a twelve month high of $54.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company's 50 day moving average is $51.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.42.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.19). Portland General Electric had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 7.12%.The company had revenue of $879.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $953.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Portland General Electric will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Portland General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.5513 per share. This represents a $2.21 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 25th. This is a positive change from Portland General Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Portland General Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Portland General Electric

In other news, Director Robert N. Hoglund bought 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $48.80 per share, for a total transaction of $97,600.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 2,519 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,927.20. This trade represents a 385.36% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juan Diego Gallegos sold 2,750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total transaction of $133,842.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 12,127 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $590,221.09. This represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,219 shares of company stock valued at $767,707. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Portland General Electric

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Channing Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 39.1% in the 3rd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,509,269 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $66,408,000 after purchasing an additional 424,622 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Portland General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $3,662,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 228.9% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 68,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,285,000 after purchasing an additional 47,644 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 595,747 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $26,213,000 after purchasing an additional 52,700 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,496,919 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $65,864,000 after purchasing an additional 324,635 shares during the period.

Portland General Electric Company Profile

Portland General Electric NYSE: POR is an investor-owned electric utility headquartered in Tigard, Oregon, with roots tracing back to the late 19th century. The company generates, transmits and distributes electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers across a broad territory in Oregon, primarily encompassing the Portland metropolitan area and surrounding regions.

As one of Oregon's largest electric utilities, Portland General Electric operates a diverse portfolio of generation assets, including hydroelectric facilities, natural gas–fired plants and renewable energy sources.

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