StockNews.com Upgrades OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE) to Hold

StockNews.com upgraded shares of OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. TheStreet lowered shares of OGE Energy from a b rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of OGE Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price target for the company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of OGE Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $33.40.

OGE Energy Stock Performance

OGE stock opened at $34.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.14. OGE Energy has a 52 week low of $31.25 and a 52 week high of $39.09.

OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.04. OGE Energy had a net margin of 15.59% and a return on equity of 9.37%. The firm had revenue of $566.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $986.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that OGE Energy will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OGE Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.418 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 5th. This represents a $1.67 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.87%. OGE Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.68%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Cristina F. Mcquistion sold 4,187 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.92, for a total value of $142,023.04. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $879,409.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OGE Energy

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in OGE Energy by 178.1% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 762 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in OGE Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in OGE Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in OGE Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in OGE Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 71.84% of the company’s stock.

About OGE Energy

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.