Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) Short Interest Update

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,110,000 shares, a drop of 21.9% from the November 15th total of 3,980,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 947,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in POR. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Portland General Electric by 477.9% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 40,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,748,000 after buying an additional 33,426 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 7.2% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 6.5% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $446,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Portland General Electric in the second quarter valued at $4,462,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 94.5% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on POR shares. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Portland General Electric in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $47.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Portland General Electric in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $54.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Portland General Electric in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Portland General Electric from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Portland General Electric from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Portland General Electric has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.13.

Portland General Electric Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:POR traded down $0.05 on Friday, hitting $44.48. 2,083,470 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 951,759. The stock has a market cap of $4.69 billion, a PE ratio of 13.28, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.59. Portland General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $39.13 and a fifty-two week high of $49.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $47.13 and a 200-day moving average of $46.26.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.01. Portland General Electric had a net margin of 10.30% and a return on equity of 10.28%. The firm had revenue of $929.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $882.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Portland General Electric will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Portland General Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 24th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 24th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. Portland General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.70%.

About Portland General Electric

Portland General Electric Company, an integrated electric utility company, engages in the generation, wholesale purchase, transmission, distribution, and retail sale of electricity in the state of Oregon. It operates six thermal plants, three wind farms, and seven hydroelectric facilities. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned an electric transmission system consisting of 1,254 circuit miles, including 287 circuit miles of 500 kilovolt line, 413 circuit miles of 230 kilovolt line, and 554 miles of 115 kilovolt line; and served 934 thousand retail customers in 51 cities.