Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stake in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA - Free Report) by 30.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,881 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 55,486 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.21% of Ormat Technologies worth $9,608,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ORA. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ormat Technologies by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 560,029 shares of the energy company's stock worth $40,154,000 after acquiring an additional 15,004 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its position in Ormat Technologies by 311.1% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in Ormat Technologies by 9.3% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 211,353 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $15,154,000 after purchasing an additional 17,900 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Ormat Technologies by 31.4% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,901 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,355,000 after buying an additional 4,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Ormat Technologies by 1.9% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,214 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,091,000 after buying an additional 286 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.49% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on ORA. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Ormat Technologies in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $78.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Ormat Technologies from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and set a $92.00 target price (up previously from $87.00) on shares of Ormat Technologies in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ormat Technologies presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $83.57.

Ormat Technologies Price Performance

ORA traded down $0.72 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $67.72. 917,721 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 471,743. 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 market cap of $4.10 billion, a PE ratio of 34.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.53. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $77.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.45. Ormat Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $59.41 and a 1 year high of $84.30.

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The energy company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $211.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $215.53 million. Ormat Technologies had a return on equity of 5.27% and a net margin of 13.33%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ormat Technologies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ormat Technologies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Ormat Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.49%.

Insider Activity

In other Ormat Technologies news, major shareholder Corp Orix sold 3,700,000 shares of the business'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 transaction of $278,906,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,976,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at $224,336,684.26. The trade was a 55.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Granot sold 1,256 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at $293,232. The trade was a 25.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.46% 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.