Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 55,486 Shares of Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA) by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,881 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 55,486 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Ormat Technologies were worth $9,608,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ORA. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ormat Technologies by 180.3% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 356 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Ormat Technologies by 107.7% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 617 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ormat Technologies during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $50,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies by 115.3% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 730 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DMC Group LLC bought a new stake in Ormat Technologies in the third quarter worth $204,000. Institutional investors own 95.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ORA has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Ormat Technologies from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up previously from $87.00) on shares of Ormat Technologies in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.50.

Ormat Technologies Price Performance

ORA stock opened at $79.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a PE ratio of 40.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 0.53. Ormat Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.41 and a 12 month high of $84.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $77.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.86. 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 (NYSE:ORA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The energy company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. Ormat Technologies had a return on equity of 5.27% and a net margin of 13.33%. The business had revenue of $211.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.53 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ormat Technologies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Ormat Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Ormat Technologies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Dafna Sharir sold 433 shares of Ormat Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total transaction of $32,436.03. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $266,754.51. The trade was a 10.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Byron G. Wong sold 1,266 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.98, for a total value of $94,924.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $517,811.88. This trade represents a 15.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Ormat Technologies Company Profile

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.