Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Entergy (NYSE:ETR) Stock

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) had its price target boosted by Morgan Stanley from $75.00 to $78.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 7.69% from the company’s current price.

ETR has been the topic of several other reports. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.32.

Entergy Stock Performance

Entergy stock traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $84.50. 589,273 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,289,278. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Entergy has a 12 month low of $50.19 and a 12 month high of $88.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The business has a 50 day moving average of $82.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.73.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Entergy will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Entergy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Entergy by 101.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,952,773,000 after buying an additional 26,312,267 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Entergy by 142.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 17,594,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,334,034,000 after buying an additional 10,347,926 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Entergy by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,884,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $976,895,000 after buying an additional 5,368,396 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Entergy by 90.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $956,273,000 after buying an additional 5,998,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of 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. 88.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.