Wall Street Zen Downgrades OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE) to Sell

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen has downgraded OGE Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating, signaling a bearish outlook on the stock.
• Despite the downgrade, Barclays upgraded the stock from "equal weight" to "overweight," raising its target price from $45.00 to $47.00, highlighting mixed analyst opinions.
• OGE Energy's recent quarterly earnings report showed a miss on EPS estimates, reporting $0.53 compared to a consensus of $0.58, although revenue exceeded expectations at $741.6 million.

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on OGE. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of OGE Energy to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Barclays raised OGE Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $47.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, OGE Energy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.80.

OGE Energy Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of OGE stock traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $44.27. 1,521,127 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 821,880. OGE Energy has a fifty-two week low of $39.10 and a fifty-two week high of $46.91. The stock's 50 day moving average is $44.84 and its 200-day moving average is $44.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The company has a market cap of $8.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.60.

OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.05). OGE Energy had a return on equity of 10.60% and a net margin of 15.27%.The company had revenue of $741.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $719.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that OGE Energy will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of OGE Energy

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of OGE. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in OGE Energy by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 62,831 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,592,000 after purchasing an additional 6,135 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in OGE Energy by 45.9% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,043 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of OGE Energy during the first quarter valued at about $305,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in OGE Energy by 19.5% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 30,922 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,421,000 after purchasing an additional 5,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of OGE Energy by 26.2% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 8,812 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 1,832 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.84% of the company's stock.

OGE Energy Company Profile

OGE Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy services provider in the United States. The company generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric energy. In addition, it provides retail electric service to approximately 896,000 customers, which covers a service area of approximately 30,000 square miles in Oklahoma and western Arkansas; and owns and operates coal-fired, natural gas-fired, wind-powered, and solar-powered generating assets.