JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) Price Target to $53.00

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) had its price target trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $56.00 to $53.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on POR. Zacks Research raised Portland General Electric from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings cut Portland General Electric from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. BMO Capital Markets set a $52.00 price target on Portland General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Portland General Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.50 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.15.

Portland General Electric Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:POR opened at $48.30 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Portland General Electric has a one year low of $41.80 and a one year high of $54.62. The company has a market cap of $5.68 billion, a PE ratio of 21.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.51.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) last announced 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 business 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Portland General Electric will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Portland General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 25th will be paid a $0.5513 dividend. This represents a $2.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 25th. Portland General Electric’s payout ratio is currently 96.92%.

Insider Activity at Portland General Electric

In related news, Director Michael Lewis sold 1,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 15,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $779,782.35. This trade represents a 9.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Portland General Electric

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of POR. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,719,655 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $970,240,000 after acquiring an additional 1,292,219 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Portland General Electric by 4,959.5% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 6,896,396 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $357,440,000 after acquiring an additional 6,760,091 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Portland General Electric by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,728,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,333,000 after acquiring an additional 156,164 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Portland General Electric by 1,342.7% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,643,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $222,824,000 after purchasing an additional 4,321,305 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Portland General Electric by 42.2% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,551,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $170,448,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,450 shares during the period.

Portland General Electric Company Profile

Portland General Electric Company (NYSE: POR) is an investor-owned electric utility that generates, purchases, transmits, distributes and sells electricity in Oregon. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial and other customers, offering electric delivery and related energy services across its service territory.

Founded in 1889, Portland General Electric is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and serves communities in the Portland metropolitan area and the Willamette Valley, among other parts of the state.