OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

OGE Energy Corp. (NYSE:OGE)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $41.75 and last traded at $41.75, with a volume of 17267 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $41.03.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

OGE Energy Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $40.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

OGE Energy (NYSE:OGE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.12 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $965.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. OGE Energy had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 9.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that OGE Energy Corp. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

OGE Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Monday, October 7th were given a dividend of $0.4213 per share. This represents a $1.69 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.00%. This is a positive change from OGE Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 7th. OGE Energy’s payout ratio is 87.05%.

Institutional Trading of OGE Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OGE. ClearBridge Investments Ltd lifted its holdings in OGE Energy by 2.7% during the second quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 5,829,222 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $208,103,000 after purchasing an additional 150,797 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in OGE Energy by 3.8% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,815,848 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,878,000 after purchasing an additional 139,872 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in OGE Energy by 31.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,197,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $78,453,000 after purchasing an additional 531,730 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in OGE Energy by 5.8% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 924,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,702,000 after purchasing an additional 50,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in OGE Energy by 3,834.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 748,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,708,000 after purchasing an additional 729,579 shares in the last quarter. 71.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About OGE Energy

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.