Insider Selling: Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) Director Sells $79,662.71 in Stock

Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) Director Michael Lewis sold 1,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.83, for a total transaction of $79,662.71. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,045 shares in the company, valued at $779,782.35. This trade represents a 9.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Portland General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of POR traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $51.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,417,863 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,264,654. The firm has a market cap of $5.93 billion, a PE ratio of 22.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.30. Portland General Electric Company has a one year low of $40.81 and a one year high of $54.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.19). Portland General Electric had a net margin of 7.12% and a return on equity of 7.57%. The firm had revenue of $879.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $953.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Portland General Electric Company will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

Portland General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 25th will be paid a $0.5513 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 25th. This represents a $2.21 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. Portland General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.21%.

Institutional Trading of Portland General Electric

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank & Trust Co increased its position in Portland General Electric by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 10,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $524,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the period. Canvas Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Portland General Electric during the second quarter worth $208,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 110.3% in the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,078 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,455,000 after acquiring an additional 14,726 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 426.4% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,919 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 23.9% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,583 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $875,000 after acquiring an additional 3,197 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on POR shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Portland General Electric from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Zacks Research lowered Portland General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Portland General Electric in a research note on Friday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Portland General Electric from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Portland General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Portland General Electric presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $50.90.

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.