Guidance Capital Inc. Lowers Stake in Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR)

Guidance Capital Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) by 6.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,171 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 446 shares during the period. Guidance Capital Inc.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $835,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aquila Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Entergy during the 3rd quarter valued at $395,000. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Entergy by 51.2% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 9,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,257,000 after acquiring an additional 3,233 shares during the last quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Entergy by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $359,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. raised its stake in Entergy by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 55,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,273,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leo Wealth LLC raised its stake in Entergy by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 11,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,543,000 after acquiring an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ETR shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Entergy from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays cut their price target on Entergy from $138.00 to $137.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Argus raised Entergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Entergy from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Entergy from $115.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Entergy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.19.

Entergy Price Performance

ETR stock traded up $0.64 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $135.62. The stock had a trading volume of 164,888 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,547,934. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Entergy Co. has a twelve month low of $90.78 and a twelve month high of $136.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.54, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $126.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.32.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.16. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 14.75%. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Entergy Co. will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a $1.13 dividend. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Entergy news, COO Peter S. Norgeot, Jr. sold 7,922 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $1,029,860.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 34,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,549,090. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 5,166 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $619,920.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $614,040. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Peter S. Norgeot, Jr. sold 7,922 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $1,029,860.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 34,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,090. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,810 shares of company stock valued at $6,140,626 in the last ninety days. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Entergy Company Profile

Entergy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and retail distribution of electricity in the United States. It generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power in portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, including the City of New Orleans; and distributes natural gas.