Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Entergy (NYSE:ETR) Stock

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) had its target price boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $137.00 to $170.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on ETR. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Entergy from $138.00 to $137.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Entergy from $131.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Entergy from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Entergy from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Entergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.96.

Entergy Trading Down 6.5 %

Entergy stock traded down $9.99 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $144.79. 3,871,509 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,598,875. Entergy has a fifty-two week low of $94.85 and a fifty-two week high of $156.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.64, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. Entergy had a net margin of 14.75% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The firm had revenue of $3.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.27 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Entergy will post 7.21 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. This is an increase from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. Entergy’s payout ratio is currently 58.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 3,200 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total value of $388,672.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 150,731 shares in the company, valued at $18,307,787.26. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Peter S. Norgeot, Jr. sold 7,922 shares of the business’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 transaction of $1,029,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 34,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,090. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total transaction of $388,672.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 150,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,307,787.26. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,810 shares of company stock worth $6,140,626 over the last 90 days. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Entergy

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in shares of Entergy by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 6,926,492 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $741,135,000 after buying an additional 763,834 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Entergy by 47.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,479,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $693,260,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075,776 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Entergy by 64.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,170,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $440,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630,057 shares during the last quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd raised its position in Entergy by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 3,137,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $335,671,000 after purchasing an additional 20,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Entergy by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,753,248 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $290,963,000 after purchasing an additional 505,705 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

About Entergy

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.