Short Interest in Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) Declines By 36.5%

Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 4,026,278 shares, a decline of 36.5% from the December 15th total of 6,344,706 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,065,369 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,065,369 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Portland General Electric Stock Performance

Portland General Electric stock traded up $0.34 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $49.64. The stock had a trading volume of 731,973 shares, compared to its average volume of 828,156. Portland General Electric has a 52-week low of $39.54 and a 52-week high of $51.14. The company has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a PE ratio of 18.05, a P/E/G ratio of 4.35 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $48.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.02. Portland General Electric had a return on equity of 8.32% and a net margin of 8.63%.The firm had revenue of $952.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $975.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Portland General Electric will post 3.21 EPS for the current year.

Portland General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 22nd were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 22nd. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Portland General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

POR has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho set a $47.00 target price on Portland General Electric in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Portland General Electric from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Portland General Electric in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Portland General Electric in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Portland General Electric in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.58.

Institutional Trading of Portland General Electric

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its holdings in shares of Portland General Electric by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 23,639 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,134,000 after purchasing an additional 5,457 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 135,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,479,000 after buying an additional 2,538 shares in the last quarter. A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in shares of Portland General Electric by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 27,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,341,000 after buying an additional 775 shares in the last quarter. Chris Bulman Inc bought a new position in Portland General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Portland General Electric by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 21,305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,022,000 after buying an additional 2,447 shares in the last quarter.

Portland General Electric Company Profile

Portland General Electric (NYSE:POR) is an investor-owned electric utility headquartered in Tigard, Oregon, with roots tracing back to the late 19th century. The company generates, transmits and distributes electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers across a broad territory in Oregon, primarily encompassing the Portland metropolitan area and surrounding regions.

As one of Oregon’s largest electric utilities, Portland General Electric operates a diverse portfolio of generation assets, including hydroelectric facilities, natural gas–fired plants and renewable energy sources.