Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 28,400 Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 28,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,231,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Portland General Electric by 181.8% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY bought a new position in shares of Portland General Electric in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Portland General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Portland General Electric by 44.0% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Portland General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000.

Insider Transactions at Portland General Electric

In other news, COO Benjamin Felton sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.60, for a total transaction of $142,100.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 31,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,297,170. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on POR shares. UBS Group upgraded Portland General Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Bank of America lowered Portland General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective (down from $43.00) on shares of Portland General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays decreased their target price on Portland General Electric from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Portland General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.13.

Portland General Electric Price Performance

Shares of POR opened at $43.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.45. Portland General Electric has a 52-week low of $38.01 and a 52-week high of $51.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a PE ratio of 18.58 and a beta of 0.57.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.20). The firm had revenue of $725.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $740.21 million. Portland General Electric had a net margin of 7.80% and a return on equity of 7.21%. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Portland General Electric will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Portland General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Portland General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.62%. Portland General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 81.55%.

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.