Graham Capital Management L.P. Boosts Stake in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA)

Graham Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA) by 36.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 35,757 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,540 shares during the quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Ormat Technologies were worth $2,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ORA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 274,540 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its stake in Ormat Technologies by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,415,479 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $162,586,000 after acquiring an additional 163,505 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Ormat Technologies by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,586,479 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $107,440,000 after purchasing an additional 93,418 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ormat Technologies by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,373,426 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $93,029,000 after purchasing an additional 72,135 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ormat Technologies in the fourth quarter worth $62,851,000. 95.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ormat Technologies from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Ormat Technologies in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on Ormat Technologies from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com raised Ormat Technologies from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Ormat Technologies to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.38.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Granot sold 1,666 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.00, for a total transaction of $114,954.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $131,790. This represents a 46.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jessica Woelfel sold 409 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.15, for a total value of $29,509.35. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $439,682.10. This represents a 6.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,242 shares of company stock worth $156,427. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ormat Technologies Price Performance

Shares of Ormat Technologies stock opened at $74.80 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a PE ratio of 38.16, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $71.11 and a 200 day moving average of $71.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Ormat Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $61.58 and a 12 month high of $84.30.

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The energy company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.10. Ormat Technologies had a return on equity of 5.27% and a net margin of 13.33%. The firm had revenue of $229.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $228.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Ormat Technologies, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ormat Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 21st will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 21st. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Ormat Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.53%.

About Ormat Technologies

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.