Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) Reaches New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Shares of Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $50.96 and last traded at $50.93, with a volume of 4653 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $50.32.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Portland General Electric in a research report on Monday, October 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Portland General Electric from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Zacks Research raised Portland General Electric from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on Portland General Electric from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded Portland General Electric to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.92.

Portland General Electric Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average of $46.08 and a 200 day moving average of $43.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a PE ratio of 18.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 0.67.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.02. Portland General Electric had a net margin of 8.43% and a return on equity of 8.07%. The firm had revenue of $952.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $975.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Portland General Electric Company will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Portland General Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 22nd. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Portland General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Maria M. Pope sold 18,896 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.50, for a total transaction of $803,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 194,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,250,737.50. This trade represents a 8.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Portland General Electric

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. ATLAS Infrastructure Partners UK Ltd. grew its position in Portland General Electric by 164.5% during the first quarter. ATLAS Infrastructure Partners UK Ltd. now owns 4,400,635 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $196,268,000 after buying an additional 2,736,811 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 644.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,014,491 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $89,846,000 after purchasing an additional 1,743,791 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Portland General Electric in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,554,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Portland General Electric by 22.8% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,864,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $216,950,000 after purchasing an additional 904,692 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Portland General Electric by 99.4% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,385,777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,974,000 after buying an additional 690,743 shares during the last quarter.

Portland General Electric Company Profile

Portland General Electric Company, an integrated electric utility company, engages in the generation, wholesale purchase, transmission, distribution, and retail sale of electricity in the state of Oregon. It operates six thermal plants, three wind farms, and seven hydroelectric facilities. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned an electric transmission system consisting of 1,254 circuit miles, including 287 circuit miles of 500 kilovolt line, 413 circuit miles of 230 kilovolt line, and 554 miles of 115 kilovolt line; and served 934 thousand retail customers in 51 cities.