Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA) gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $67.52, but opened at $69.47. Ormat Technologies shares last traded at $67.76, with a volume of 119,858 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ORA. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Ormat Technologies from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Ormat Technologies in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $78.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 target price (up from $87.00) on shares of Ormat Technologies in a report on Friday, November 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ormat Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.57.

Ormat Technologies Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $78.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.17 billion, a PE ratio of 35.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.53.

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The energy company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $211.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $215.53 million. Ormat Technologies had a net margin of 13.33% and a return on equity of 5.27%. Ormat Technologies’s revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Ormat Technologies, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ormat Technologies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Ormat Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.49%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Granot sold 1,256 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.00, for a total transaction of $102,992.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $293,232. This trade represents a 25.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Corp Orix sold 3,700,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total transaction of $278,906,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,976,077 shares in the company, valued at $224,336,684.26. This represents a 55.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ORA. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Ormat Technologies by 6.1% in the third quarter. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. now owns 2,446,624 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $188,125,000 after purchasing an additional 140,882 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Ormat Technologies by 6.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,450,797 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $104,030,000 after acquiring an additional 86,291 shares during the period. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Ormat Technologies by 2.0% during the second quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 1,322,936 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $94,855,000 after purchasing an additional 25,799 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ormat Technologies by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,301,291 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $100,140,000 after purchasing an additional 22,714 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Ormat Technologies by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 560,029 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $40,154,000 after purchasing an additional 15,004 shares during the period. 95.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.