Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) Raises Dividend to $0.50 Per Share

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 19th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, July 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.67%. This is a positive change from Portland General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48.

Portland General Electric has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 18 years. Portland General Electric has a dividend payout ratio of 58.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Portland General Electric to earn $3.22 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.90 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.0%.

Portland General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of Portland General Electric stock traded up $1.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $42.83. The company had a trading volume of 900,248 shares, compared to its average volume of 966,527. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Portland General Electric has a one year low of $38.01 and a one year high of $51.58. The firm has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of 18.37 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.37.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.20). Portland General Electric had a net margin of 7.80% and a return on equity of 7.21%. The company had revenue of $725.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $740.21 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Portland General Electric will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group upgraded Portland General Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 price target (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Portland General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Portland General Electric from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Portland General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Portland General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Monday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Benjamin Felton sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.60, for a total value of $142,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,297,170. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Portland General Electric

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Portland General Electric by 1,022.6% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,105,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $145,448,000 after purchasing an additional 2,829,184 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Portland General Electric by 86.9% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,554,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $119,639,000 after buying an additional 1,187,890 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Portland General Electric by 21.8% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,067,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $334,647,000 after buying an additional 1,087,996 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 37.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,339,567 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $162,473,000 after acquiring an additional 905,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Portland General Electric by 927.0% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 970,767 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,568,000 after acquiring an additional 876,246 shares during the last quarter.

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.