Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) Sets New 52-Week Low After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $48.00 to $45.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Portland General Electric traded as low as $40.92 and last traded at $42.13, with a volume of 1451738 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $41.70.

POR has been the subject of several other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Portland General Electric from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Portland General Electric from $47.00 to $42.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut Portland General Electric from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Portland General Electric from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "neutral" rating and set a $44.00 price objective (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Portland General Electric in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $45.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Joseph R. Trpik, Jr. sold 1,375 shares of Portland General Electric stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.32, for a total value of $56,815.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,320,587.20. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Benjamin Felton sold 1,845 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.02, for a total transaction of $79,371.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,404,430.92. This represents a 5.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,795 shares of company stock worth $159,946. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Portland General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,004,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Portland General Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $32,553,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,959,660 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $172,720,000 after purchasing an additional 635,987 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Portland General Electric by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,913,132 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $519,651,000 after buying an additional 572,531 shares during the period. Finally, OLD Republic International Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Portland General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $22,464,000.

Portland General Electric Stock Up 1.4 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market cap of $4.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $43.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.10.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by ($0.02). Portland General Electric had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 9.10%. The company had revenue of $928.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $977.02 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. Portland General Electric's quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Portland General Electric will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Portland General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.96%. This is an increase from Portland General Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Portland General Electric's dividend payout ratio is currently 73.94%.

Portland General Electric Company Profile

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.