Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Announces $0.60 Quarterly Dividend

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of 0.60 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.96%.

Entergy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.9% per year over the last three years. Entergy has a payout ratio of 55.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Entergy to earn $3.85 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.3%.

Entergy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ETR traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $81.17. The company had a trading volume of 7,474,986 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,123,330. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.89. Entergy has a 12 month low of $48.08 and a 12 month high of $84.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.71.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on ETR shares. StockNews.com raised Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 29th. KeyCorp downgraded Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Entergy from $68.50 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Entergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.81.

Insider Activity 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 stock was sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total transaction of $29,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $613,431. The trade was a 4.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 8,268 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 4,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,444.48. The trade was a 67.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,756 shares of company stock valued at $1,095,637 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.39% 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.