Great Lakes Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 149,638 Portland General Electric Company $POR

Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 149,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,756,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned 0.13% of Portland General Electric at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of POR. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Portland General Electric by 18.8% in the first quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 127,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,728,000 after purchasing an additional 20,147 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Portland General Electric by 683.5% during the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 43,282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,077,000 after buying an additional 37,758 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in Portland General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $897,000. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in Portland General Electric by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 799,147 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,351,000 after acquiring an additional 203,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Portland General Electric during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,497,000.

Insider Buying and Selling at Portland General Electric

In related news, Director Michael A. Lewis sold 1,537 shares of Portland General Electric 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 transaction, the director directly owned 15,045 shares in the company, valued at $779,782.35. The trade was a 9.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets set a $52.00 target price on Portland General Electric in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Portland General Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.50 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Portland General Electric from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Portland General Electric from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Portland General Electric presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.25.

Portland General Electric Stock Performance

NYSE:POR opened at $50.18 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.33. Portland General Electric Company has a fifty-two week low of $41.80 and a fifty-two week high of $54.62. The stock has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.52.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.01). Portland General Electric had a net margin of 7.27% and a return on equity of 7.47%. The company had revenue of $814.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $839.75 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. Portland General Electric’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Portland General Electric Company will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Portland General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.5513 per share. This represents a $2.21 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 25th. Portland General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.92%.

About Portland General Electric

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.