Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $77.37.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ETR shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Entergy from $83.00 to $79.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $69.00 to $82.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Entergy from $68.50 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Entergy from $68.50 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Entergy

In other Entergy news, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total transaction of $29,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $613,431. The trade was a 4.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 8,268 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.52, for a total value of $616,090.02. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,444.48. This trade represents a 67.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,756 shares of company stock worth $1,095,637 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Entergy by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 986,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,840,000 after acquiring an additional 174,093 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Entergy by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 280,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,885,000 after purchasing an additional 10,697 shares in the last quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Entergy by 11.4% during the third quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 97,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,795,000 after buying an additional 9,986 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Entergy by 40.7% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 18,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,448,000 after buying an additional 5,381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC acquired a new position in Entergy in the third quarter worth approximately $32,541,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Stock Performance

NYSE:ETR opened at $79.06 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.36. Entergy has a fifty-two week low of $48.08 and a fifty-two week high of $79.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. The stock has a market cap of $33.90 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.71.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.04. Entergy had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 14.83%. The company had revenue of $3.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.64 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Entergy will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.47%.

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.