Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.43

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR – Get Rating) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 11th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 25th will be given a dividend of 0.43 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, April 18th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 24th.

Portland General Electric has raised its dividend by 5.9% over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 16 consecutive years. Portland General Electric has a payout ratio of 58.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Portland General Electric to earn $2.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.1%.

POR opened at $53.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.44. Portland General Electric has a 12 month low of $45.40 and a 12 month high of $55.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $52.25 and a 200 day moving average of $50.84.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 17th. The utilities provider reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $608.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $533.12 million. Portland General Electric had a return on equity of 9.11% and a net margin of 10.18%. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Portland General Electric will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Separately, Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Portland General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.75.

In other Portland General Electric news, VP Larry Neal Bekkedahl sold 2,500 shares of Portland General Electric stock in a transaction on Friday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.73, for a total value of $136,825.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kathryn Jean Jackson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.79, for a total transaction of $243,950.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Portland General Electric by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 697,720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,923,000 after buying an additional 25,229 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Portland General Electric by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 693,987 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,726,000 after purchasing an additional 166,628 shares during the period. Parametric Portfolio Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Parametric Portfolio Associates LLC now owns 495,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,206,000 after acquiring an additional 8,480 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 61.5% in the second quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 355,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,377,000 after acquiring an additional 135,368 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 352,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,636,000 after purchasing an additional 12,302 shares during the last quarter. 92.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Portland General Electric Company Profile (Get Rating)

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.

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