State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Stock Position in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its stake in shares of Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA) by 41.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,429 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 18,251 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Ormat Technologies were worth $1,823,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ormat Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,709,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Ormat Technologies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,907,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ormat Technologies by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,388,571 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $356,670,000 after purchasing an additional 63,943 shares during the period. Beck Bode LLC increased its position in Ormat Technologies by 34.1% during the 1st quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 174,882 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $11,575,000 after purchasing an additional 44,451 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its position in Ormat Technologies by 178.2% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 56,835 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,762,000 after purchasing an additional 36,406 shares during the period. 95.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ormat Technologies

In related news, Director Byron G. Wong sold 1,266 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.98, for a total value of $94,924.68. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $517,811.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Ormat Technologies news, Director Byron G. Wong sold 1,266 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.98, for a total transaction of $94,924.68. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $517,811.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Dafna Sharir sold 433 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total value of $32,436.03. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,561 shares in the company, valued at approximately $266,754.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on ORA. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Ormat Technologies in a research report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ormat Technologies from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on Ormat Technologies from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ormat Technologies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.67.

Ormat Technologies Stock Performance

ORA opened at $75.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.98. Ormat Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.73 and a 1-year high of $78.51.

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The energy company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.03. Ormat Technologies had a return on equity of 5.40% and a net margin of 14.89%. The business had revenue of $212.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $214.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ormat Technologies, Inc. will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ormat Technologies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 20th. Ormat Technologies’s payout ratio is currently 21.62%.

About Ormat Technologies

Ormat Technologies, Inc engages in the geothermal and recovered energy power business in the United States, Indonesia, Kenya, Turkey, Chile, Guatemala, Guadeloupe, New Zealand, Honduras, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Electricity, Product, and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment develops, builds, owns, and operates geothermal, solar photovoltaic, and recovered energy-based power plants; and sells electricity.