Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Position in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA - Free Report) by 30.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 124,881 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 55,486 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.21% of Ormat Technologies worth $9,608,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ormat Technologies by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,388,571 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $356,670,000 after acquiring an additional 63,943 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Ormat Technologies by 6.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,450,797 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $104,030,000 after acquiring an additional 86,291 shares during the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its position in Ormat Technologies by 2.0% in the second quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 1,322,936 shares of the energy company's stock worth $94,855,000 after buying an additional 25,799 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Ormat Technologies by 2.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 560,029 shares of the energy company's stock worth $40,154,000 after buying an additional 15,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its position in Ormat Technologies by 1,011.5% in the second quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 493,619 shares of the energy company's stock worth $34,943,000 after buying an additional 449,209 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.49% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Ormat Technologies

In other Ormat Technologies news, Director Dafna Sharir sold 433 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.91, for a total transaction of $32,436.03. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,561 shares in the company, valued at $266,754.51. This represents a 10.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Byron G. Wong sold 1,266 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $517,811.88. This trade represents a 15.49 % 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.

Ormat Technologies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ORA traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $79.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 415,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 438,977. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a PE ratio of 40.49, a P/E/G ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $77.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.95. Ormat Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.41 and a 52 week high of $84.30.

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The energy company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ormat Technologies, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ormat Technologies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. Ormat Technologies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ORA. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Ormat Technologies from $86.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Roth Mkm restated 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ormat Technologies currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $84.50.

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.