Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest in Portland General Electric surged 31.9% in March to 4,687,274 shares, equal to 4.1% of the float and a days-to-cover of 3.4, signaling rising bearish activity.
• The company missed quarterly EPS ($0.47 vs. $0.59 consensus) but issued FY2026 guidance of 3.33–3.53 EPS, above the sell‑side average (~3.21), while shares traded near $52.39.
• Portland General Electric pays a quarterly dividend of $0.525 (annualized $2.10), yielding about 4.0% with a payout ratio around 75.8%.

Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 4,687,274 shares, a growth of 31.9% from the March 15th total of 3,552,694 shares. Currently, 4.1% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,380,632 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on POR. UBS Group upped their price objective on Portland General Electric from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Portland General Electric from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Portland General Electric from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on Portland General Electric from $47.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $48.00 price objective on Portland General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Portland General Electric currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $50.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Portland General Electric news, EVP Benjamin Felton sold 4,969 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $266,139.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 41,081 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,200,298.36. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Portland General Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,020,573 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $624,857,000 after buying an additional 513,517 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Portland General Electric by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,728,784 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $229,333,000 after purchasing an additional 156,164 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Portland General Electric by 1,342.7% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,643,134 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $222,824,000 after purchasing an additional 4,321,305 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Portland General Electric by 42.2% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,551,731 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $170,448,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Portland General Electric by 23.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,985,941 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $131,381,000 after purchasing an additional 564,379 shares in the last quarter.

Portland General Electric Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of POR traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $52.39. 1,285,982 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,280,390. Portland General Electric has a 52 week low of $39.54 and a 52 week high of $54.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company's 50 day moving average is $52.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.54. The company has a market capitalization of $6.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.91, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.62.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The utilities provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.12). Portland General Electric had a return on equity of 8.52% and a net margin of 8.56%.The firm had revenue of $889.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $892.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. Portland General Electric has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.330-3.530 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Portland General Electric will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Portland General Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 23rd were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 23rd. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Portland General Electric's dividend payout ratio is presently 75.81%.

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.

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.