Evercore ISI Initiates Coverage on Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR)

Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $54.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on POR. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Portland General Electric in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set a hold rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays downgraded shares of Portland General Electric from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and raised their target price for the company from $48.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America began coverage on Portland General Electric in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an underperform rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp upgraded Portland General Electric from a sector weight rating to an overweight rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Portland General Electric from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Portland General Electric presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $46.78.

Portland General Electric Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:POR opened at $48.09 on Wednesday. Portland General Electric has a 12 month low of $38.01 and a 12 month high of $49.45. The firm has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $47.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.55.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $758.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.43 million. Portland General Electric had a net margin of 9.24% and a return on equity of 9.15%. Portland General Electric’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Portland General Electric will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Portland General Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 24th. Portland General Electric’s payout ratio is 76.63%.

Insider Activity

In other Portland General Electric news, VP John Teeruk Kochavatr sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.25, for a total transaction of $50,875.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,606 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,045,527.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, VP John Teeruk Kochavatr sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.25, for a total transaction of $50,875.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,606 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,045,527.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Benjamin Felton sold 1,886 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $90,528.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 30,142 shares in the company, valued at $1,446,816. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,486 shares of company stock valued at $262,153 over the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Portland General Electric

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Portland General Electric by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,524,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $196,089,000 after purchasing an additional 1,017,503 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Portland General Electric in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,112,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Portland General Electric during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,557,000. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC purchased a new position in Portland General Electric in the fourth quarter worth $17,460,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Portland General Electric by 657.0% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 314,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,607,000 after purchasing an additional 273,118 shares during the period.

About Portland General Electric

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.