Jefferies Financial Group Upgrades Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) to Buy

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) was upgraded by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $78.00 price objective on the energy company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $73.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 13.48% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on ORA. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Ormat Technologies from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Ormat Technologies in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $78.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price target (up previously from $87.00) on shares of Ormat Technologies in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ormat Technologies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.88.

Ormat Technologies Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE ORA opened at $68.74 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.07, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a 50 day moving average of $66.53 and a 200-day moving average of $73.33. Ormat Technologies has a 1-year low of $59.41 and a 1-year high of $84.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Corp Orix sold 3,700,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total value of $278,906,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,976,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $224,336,684.26. This represents a 55.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Granot sold 1,256 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.00, for a total value of $102,992.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,576 shares in the company, valued at $293,232. This represents a 25.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ormat Technologies by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,026 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. lifted its stake in Ormat Technologies by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 19,446 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,317,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ormat Technologies by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,354 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Ormat Technologies by 180.3% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 356 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Ormat Technologies by 132.4% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 402 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.49% of the company’s stock.

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.