Equitable Trust Co. Raises Stock Position in Entergy Corporation $ETR

Equitable Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 79,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 786 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $6,604,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,828,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,687,331,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695,348 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,173,889 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,126,244,000 after acquiring an additional 289,468 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,333,701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $370,488,000 after acquiring an additional 143,187 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,442,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $286,103,000 after acquiring an additional 386,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,326,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $284,380,000 after acquiring an additional 454,059 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on ETR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Entergy from $102.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Entergy from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Entergy in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Entergy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Entergy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.64.

Entergy Stock Performance

Shares of ETR stock opened at $95.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $42.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.83, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s 50 day moving average is $90.53 and its 200 day moving average is $85.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. Entergy Corporation has a 52-week low of $65.30 and a 52-week high of $98.58.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter. Entergy had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 11.52%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 13th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.85%.

Insider Transactions at Entergy

In related news, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 4,463 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.50, for a total transaction of $403,901.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $300,279. This trade represents a 57.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.