Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) Rating Lowered to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company set a $51.00 price target on Portland General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Portland General Electric in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Portland General Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Portland General Electric Trading Up 1.2%

Portland General Electric stock opened at $52.62 on Monday. Portland General Electric has a 12 month low of $39.73 and a 12 month high of $54.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.86.

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

Insider Activity at Portland General Electric

In related news, CFO Joseph R. Trpik, Jr. sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total transaction of $367,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 31,897 shares in the company, valued at $1,563,909.91. This represents a 19.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert N. Hoglund purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $48.80 per share, for a total transaction of $97,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,519 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,927.20. This trade represents a 385.36% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Portland General Electric

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 426.4% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 1,919 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 23.9% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 16,583 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $875,000 after buying an additional 3,197 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Portland General Electric by 14.8% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its stake in Portland General Electric by 5.1% during the first quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 118,094 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,232,000 after acquiring an additional 5,780 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Portland General Electric by 60.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,660,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $87,622,000 after acquiring an additional 626,223 shares during the period.

Portland General Electric Company Profile

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.