Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) Stock Price Down 6.5% Following Analyst Downgrade

Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR)’s share price fell 6.5% on Monday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $53.00 to $50.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Portland General Electric traded as low as $45.46 and last traded at $43.8270. 694,807 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the average session volume of 1,230,991 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.85.

POR has been the subject of several other research reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Portland General Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.50 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Portland General Electric from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. BMO Capital Markets set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Portland General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. 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. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Portland General Electric in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Portland General Electric news, Director Michael Lewis sold 1,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.83, for a total value of $79,662.71. Following the transaction, the director owned 15,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $779,782.35. This represents a 9.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Portland General Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Portland General Electric by 13.2% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $903,000 after acquiring an additional 2,029 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Portland General Electric by 8.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,019,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $262,810,000 after purchasing an additional 372,165 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Portland General Electric by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 138,252 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,166,000 after purchasing an additional 1,410 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 125.4% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 46,238 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,397,000 after purchasing an additional 25,727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 323.2% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 80,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,160,000 after purchasing an additional 61,297 shares in the last quarter.

Portland General Electric Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.21 billion, a PE ratio of 19.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $49.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.60.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $814.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $839.75 million. Portland General Electric had a return on equity of 7.47% and a net margin of 7.27%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Portland General Electric Company will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Portland General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.5513 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 25th. This represents a $2.21 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. Portland General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 96.92%.

About Portland General Electric

Portland General Electric Company (NYSE: POR) is an investor-owned electric utility that generates, purchases, transmits, distributes and sells electricity in Oregon. The company serves residential, commercial, industrial and other customers, offering electric delivery and related energy services across its service territory.

Founded in 1889, Portland General Electric is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and serves communities in the Portland metropolitan area and the Willamette Valley, among other parts of the state.