Entergy (NYSE:ETR) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Entergy (NYSE:ETR) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

ETR has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $112.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Truist Financial set a $119.00 target price on shares of Entergy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Entergy from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Entergy from $124.00 to $123.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Entergy from $133.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.57.

Entergy Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:ETR opened at $111.78 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $104.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. Entergy has a 12-month low of $90.87 and a 12-month high of $118.44. The firm has a market cap of $53.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.55, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.44.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.25. Entergy had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 14.63%. The company had revenue of $4.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.53 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Entergy will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. This is a boost from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. Entergy’s payout ratio is currently 58.85%.

Insider Activity at Entergy

In other news, insider Laura Landreaux sold 5,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.20, for a total value of $594,720.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 22,589 shares in the company, valued at $2,398,951.80. This trade represents a 19.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Entergy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Callan Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Entergy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,250,000. Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in Entergy during the second quarter worth about $22,064,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in Entergy during the second quarter worth about $2,843,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in Entergy by 18.3% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 180,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,265,000 after acquiring an additional 27,868 shares during the period. Finally, E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB lifted its holdings in Entergy by 27.6% in the third quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 21,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,164,000 after acquiring an additional 4,710 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

About Entergy

Entergy Corporation is an investor-owned energy company headquartered in New Orleans. Its primary business is providing regulated electric utility service to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Through its utility subsidiaries, Entergy serves communities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Its operations include generating, transmitting and distributing electricity, with power produced from a mix of sources that includes nuclear energy.

The company traces its corporate history to Middle South Utilities, which adopted the Entergy name in 1989.