Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) Downgraded to Sell Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on POR. KeyCorp cut their target price on Portland General Electric from $52.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Portland General Electric from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded shares of Portland General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $47.00 target price (down previously from $52.00) on shares of Portland General Electric in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Portland General Electric from $46.00 to $43.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.00.

Portland General Electric Stock Performance

POR opened at $42.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.18, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.49. Portland General Electric has a 1-year low of $40.05 and a 1-year high of $49.85. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.01. Portland General Electric had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 9.10%. The company had revenue of $824.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Portland General Electric will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Portland General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 24th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 24th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.68%. Portland General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Portland General Electric news, CFO Joseph R. Trpik, Jr. sold 1,375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.32, for a total transaction of $56,815.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,320,587.20. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Portland General Electric

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Portland General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Portland General Electric during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Portland General Electric by 151.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in Portland General Electric by 1,538.0% in the 4th quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares during the period. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Portland General Electric in the 4th quarter worth about $52,000.

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.