Intech Investment Management LLC Trims Position in Vistra Corp. $VST

Intech Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 44.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 112,103 shares of the company’s stock after selling 88,056 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Vistra were worth $21,727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ELCO Management Co. LLC bought a new position in Vistra in the 2nd quarter valued at $499,000. Peak Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vistra in the second quarter worth $547,000. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Vistra during the second quarter valued at $258,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in Vistra by 55.3% during the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 6,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,208,000 after buying an additional 2,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC increased its stake in Vistra by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 22,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,346,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VST shares. Cowen started coverage on Vistra in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Vistra from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Vistra from $179.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Vistra from $237.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded Vistra from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.21.

Vistra Stock Performance

NYSE VST opened at $174.37 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $198.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.74. Vistra Corp. has a 12-month low of $90.51 and a 12-month high of $219.82. The firm has a market cap of $59.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.95, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.30.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The company reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.78 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $4.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.60 billion. Vistra had a return on equity of 64.04% and a net margin of 6.70%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vistra Corp. will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 22nd will be issued a $0.227 dividend. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.91 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 22nd. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.49%.

Insider Activity at Vistra

In related news, CEO James A. Burke sold 43,074 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.75, for a total transaction of $8,991,697.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 217,025 shares in the company, valued at $45,303,968.75. This represents a 16.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 745,845 shares of company stock valued at $152,178,104 over the last quarter. 1.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vistra Profile

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.