OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the four ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $33.40.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on OGE shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded shares of OGE Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. TheStreet downgraded shares of OGE Energy from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of OGE Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of OGE Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other OGE Energy news, VP Cristina F. Mcquistion sold 4,187 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.92, for a total transaction of $142,023.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $879,409.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of OGE Energy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of OGE. United Capital Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in OGE Energy by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. United Capital Financial Advisers LLC now owns 13,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in OGE Energy by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. First Republic Investment Management Inc. grew its position in OGE Energy by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 43,660 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,780,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in OGE Energy by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 25,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in OGE Energy by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 9,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.84% of the company’s stock.

OGE Energy Price Performance

NYSE:OGE opened at $34.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $33.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.04. OGE Energy has a one year low of $31.25 and a one year high of $38.04. The company has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.73.

OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.04. OGE Energy had a net margin of 15.59% and a return on equity of 9.37%. The business had revenue of $566.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $986.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. OGE Energy’s revenue was down 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that OGE Energy will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current year.

OGE Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.418 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 5th. This represents a $1.67 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.91%. OGE Energy’s payout ratio is 80.68%.

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.