Vistra (NYSE:VST) Stock Price Up 4% on Analyst Upgrade

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)’s share price rose 4% during trading on Friday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $105.00 to $141.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Vistra traded as high as $137.81 and last traded at $137.78. Approximately 4,545,655 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average daily volume of 6,830,904 shares. The stock had previously closed at $132.45.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Vistra from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Vistra from $110.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Vistra from $99.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Vistra currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $118.14.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VST. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Vistra during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vistra in the second quarter worth $26,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Vistra in the first quarter worth $32,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vistra during the second quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Vistra during the first quarter valued at $39,000. 90.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vistra Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.75. The company has a market capitalization of $48.09 billion, a PE ratio of 84.91 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.69). Vistra had a return on equity of 21.05% and a net margin of 4.61%. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Vistra Corp. will post 4.7 EPS for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 20th were issued a dividend of $0.2195 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 20th. Vistra’s payout ratio is 53.37%.

Vistra Company Profile

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.