Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Short Interest Up 38.3% in March

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,440,000 shares, a growth of 38.3% from the March 15th total of 9,720,000 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 4,490,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ETR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Entergy from $94.00 to $89.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Entergy from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.25.

Entergy Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ETR opened at $83.11 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.86. Entergy has a 52-week low of $51.75 and a 52-week high of $88.38. The company has a market capitalization of $35.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Entergy will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Entergy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ETR. Acropolis Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 17,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,535,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc grew its holdings in shares of Entergy by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc now owns 668 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Hall Laurie J Trustee lifted its position in Entergy by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Hall Laurie J Trustee now owns 450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Entergy by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 29,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,224,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.