Portland General Electric Company $POR Shares Bought by Lazard Asset Management LLC

Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) by 38.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,391,332 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 383,675 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned approximately 1.20% of Portland General Electric worth $73,421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Portland General Electric in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in Portland General Electric by 76.4% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Portland General Electric during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 112.9% during the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. Finally, SHP Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Portland General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Joseph R. Trpik, Jr. sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total transaction of $367,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 31,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,563,909.91. This trade represents a 19.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juan Diego Gallegos sold 2,750 shares of Portland General Electric stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total value of $133,842.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 12,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $590,221.09. This trade represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Portland General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Portland General Electric from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Portland General Electric from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Portland General Electric in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Portland General Electric in a research report on Friday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Portland General Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $50.90.

Portland General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of POR opened at $51.25 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $51.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.30. Portland General Electric Company has a 52-week low of $40.81 and a 52-week high of $54.62. The firm has a market cap of $5.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $879.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $953.24 million. Portland General Electric had a return on equity of 7.57% and a net margin of 7.12%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. Analysts forecast that Portland General Electric Company will post 3.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Portland General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 25th. Portland General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.21%.

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.