Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Shares Bought by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc lifted its position in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 191.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,389 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Entergy were worth $1,315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ETR. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Entergy by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,501,509,000 after buying an additional 128,667 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Entergy by 5.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $870,422,000 after acquiring an additional 315,750 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 53.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,718,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $754,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,981,611 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Entergy by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,965,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $651,206,000 after purchasing an additional 37,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Entergy by 60.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $472,444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354,355 shares in the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ETR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. KeyCorp lowered Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.11.

Entergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ETR opened at $85.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.59 billion, a PE ratio of 34.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. Entergy Corporation has a 1-year low of $50.19 and a 1-year high of $88.38. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $82.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.21.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. Entergy’s payout ratio is 98.77%.

Entergy 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.