OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.80.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on OGE. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on OGE Energy from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Argus upgraded OGE Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Barclays upgraded OGE Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $47.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded OGE Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling at OGE Energy

In other news, VP Donnie O. Jones sold 11,351 shares of OGE Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.06, for a total transaction of $500,125.06. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 43,932 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,643.92. The trade was a 20.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider William H. Sultemeier sold 6,650 shares of OGE Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.54, for a total value of $302,841.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 72,548 shares in the company, valued at $3,303,835.92. The trade was a 8.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OGE Energy

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in OGE Energy by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 62,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,592,000 after acquiring an additional 6,135 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in OGE Energy by 38.2% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 24,085 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $993,000 after acquiring an additional 6,657 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in OGE Energy by 45.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 126,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,176,000 after acquiring an additional 39,263 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in OGE Energy by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in OGE Energy by 55.2% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 2,774 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.84% of the company’s stock.

OGE Energy Price Performance

OGE Energy stock opened at $43.80 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.59. OGE Energy has a 52-week low of $34.84 and a 52-week high of $46.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $44.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.73.

OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $747.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $695.59 million. OGE Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that OGE Energy will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current year.

OGE Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.4213 per share. This represents a $1.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 7th. OGE Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.42%.

OGE Energy Company Profile

OGE Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy services provider in the United States. The company generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric energy. In addition, it provides retail electric service to approximately 896,000 customers, which covers a service area of approximately 30,000 square miles in Oklahoma and western Arkansas; and owns and operates coal-fired, natural gas-fired, wind-powered, and solar-powered generating assets.