Morgan Stanley Cuts Stake in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (ORA)

Morgan Stanley reduced its stake in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA) by 13.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 178,709 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 28,657 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley owned about 0.36% of Ormat Technologies worth $10,200,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ORA. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in Ormat Technologies by 6.3% in the first quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 49,488 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,825,000 after buying an additional 2,918 shares in the last quarter. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ormat Technologies by 25.7% in the first quarter. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC now owns 5,645 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares in the last quarter. Old Mutual Global Investors UK Ltd. increased its stake in Ormat Technologies by 378.5% in the first quarter. Old Mutual Global Investors UK Ltd. now owns 29,617 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,690,000 after buying an additional 23,427 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in Ormat Technologies during the first quarter valued at approximately $154,000. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its stake in Ormat Technologies by 9.4% in the first quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 29,407 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,679,000 after buying an additional 2,520 shares in the last quarter. 45.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Shares of Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA) opened at 57.97 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.25 and a beta of 1.20. Ormat Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $45.30 and a 12-month high of $61.49. The company’s 50 day moving average is $58.85 and its 200 day moving average is $57.52.

Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The energy company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.03. Ormat Technologies had a net margin of 15.36% and a return on equity of 10.39%. The business had revenue of $179.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.80 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ormat Technologies, Inc. will post $2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 15th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 11th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Ormat Technologies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.61%.

Several analysts have commented on the stock. BidaskClub raised shares of Ormat Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 10th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Ormat Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. J P Morgan Chase & Co raised shares of Ormat Technologies from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $71.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 7th. Cowen and Company reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on shares of Ormat Technologies in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. Finally, Barclays PLC raised shares of Ormat Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $59.00 in a report on Friday, May 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $65.25.

In other Ormat Technologies news, VP Shimon Hatzir sold 3,074 shares of Ormat Technologies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.20, for a total transaction of $188,128.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 3,074 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $188,128.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Etty Rosner sold 879 shares of Ormat Technologies stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.39, for a total transaction of $49,566.81. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,566.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,083,033 shares of company stock valued at $631,792,760 over the last three months. 22.97% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Ormat Technologies

Ormat Technologies, Inc is engaged in the geothermal and recovered energy power business. The Company designs, develops, builds, owns and operates geothermal and recovered energy-based power plants. Its equipment manufacturing operations are located in Israel. It conducts its business activities in two business segments: Electricity segment and Product segment.