BMO Capital Markets Cuts Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) Price Target to $47.00

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) had its price target lowered by BMO Capital Markets from $52.00 to $47.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Portland General Electric from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Portland General Electric from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Portland General Electric from $53.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Zacks Research raised Portland General Electric from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Portland General Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.50 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.15.

Portland General Electric Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:POR opened at $44.54 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.33. The firm has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a PE ratio of 19.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.49. Portland General Electric has a 12-month low of $42.95 and a 12-month high of $54.62.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $814.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $839.75 million. Portland General Electric had a net margin of 7.27% and a return on equity of 7.47%. The company’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Portland General Electric will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Portland General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Friday, September 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.5513 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 25th. This represents a $2.21 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. Portland General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 96.92%.

Insider Transactions at Portland General Electric

In other Portland General Electric news, Director Michael Lewis sold 1,537 shares of Portland General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.83, for a total value of $79,662.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,045 shares in the company, valued at $779,782.35. The trade was a 9.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Portland General Electric

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Portland General Electric by 18.8% in the first quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 127,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,728,000 after buying an additional 20,147 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Portland General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $56,497,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP grew its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 323.2% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 80,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,160,000 after acquiring an additional 61,297 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 40.1% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 264,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,714,000 after acquiring an additional 75,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Portland General Electric by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 412,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,394,000 after acquiring an additional 26,754 shares during the period.

Portland General Electric Company Profile

Portland General Electric Company (NYSE: POR) is an investor-owned electric utility headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1889, the company generates, purchases, transmits, distributes and sells electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers throughout much of Oregon.

Portland General Electric operates a diverse energy portfolio that includes hydroelectric, wind, solar, natural gas and other resources, while also purchasing electricity through wholesale markets and power agreements.