Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE)

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lessened its stake in OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE) by 20.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 394,687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 102,400 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC’s holdings in OGE Energy were worth $16,190,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in OGE. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its holdings in OGE Energy by 2.5% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 49,214 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,688,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in OGE Energy by 1.3% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 175,289 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,012,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP increased its position in shares of OGE Energy by 53.1% in the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 119,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,113,000 after buying an additional 41,584 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of OGE Energy during the 1st quarter worth $849,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of OGE Energy by 2,815.6% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 121,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,154,000 after buying an additional 116,961 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on OGE shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of OGE Energy from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of OGE Energy from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on OGE Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $46.00 target price on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.40.

OGE Energy Stock Down 0.8 %

OGE stock opened at $39.66 on Friday. OGE Energy Corp. has a one year low of $32.06 and a one year high of $41.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.44, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $40.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.71.

OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.05. OGE Energy had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 9.15%. The company had revenue of $662.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $837.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that OGE Energy Corp. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

OGE Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 7th were issued a $0.4213 dividend. This represents a $1.69 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 7th. This is a positive change from OGE Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. OGE Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.35%.

OGE Energy Profile

OGE Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy services provider in the United States. The company generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric energy. In addition, it provides retail electric service to approximately 896,000 customers, which covers a service area of approximately 30,000 square miles in Oklahoma and western Arkansas; and owns and operates coal-fired, natural gas-fired, wind-powered, and solar-powered generating assets.