Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) Lifted to Buy at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR – Get Rating) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, The Fly reports. The firm currently has $52.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $47.00.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on POR. Credit Suisse Group upped their target price on shares of Portland General Electric from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Portland General Electric from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Portland General Electric from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Portland General Electric has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $50.00.

Portland General Electric Stock Up 3.9 %

Shares of NYSE POR opened at $47.87 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Portland General Electric has a 12-month low of $41.58 and a 12-month high of $57.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $47.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.62.

Portland General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 27th will be given a dividend of $0.4525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 24th. This is a positive change from Portland General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. Portland General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 69.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Portland General Electric news, VP Brett Michael Sims sold 2,050 shares of Portland General Electric stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total transaction of $96,350.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $515,966. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in POR. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA boosted its stake in Portland General Electric by 50.4% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 70,636 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,414,000 after purchasing an additional 23,660 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in Portland General Electric by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 412,686 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,946,000 after purchasing an additional 31,161 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Portland General Electric by 35.2% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 720,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,802,000 after purchasing an additional 187,671 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Portland General Electric by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 141,570 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,153,000 after purchasing an additional 37,334 shares during the period. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP raised its position in Portland General Electric by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 247,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,778,000 after buying an additional 9,664 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

About Portland General Electric

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Portland General Electric Co engages in the generation, wholesale purchase, transmission, distribution, and retail sale of electricity in the state of Oregon. The firm also sells electricity and natural gas in the wholesale market to utilities, brokers, and power marketers. It also serves residential, commercial and non-residential customers.