Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Trims Stake in Entergy Corporation $ETR

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 430 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Entergy were worth $506,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Entergy by 5.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,828,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,687,331,000 after buying an additional 2,695,348 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Entergy by 2.2% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,173,889 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,126,244,000 after buying an additional 289,468 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Entergy by 3.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,333,701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $370,488,000 after buying an additional 143,187 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Entergy by 15.8% during the first 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 worth $284,380,000 after buying an additional 454,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its position in Entergy by 0.4% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,229,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $276,101,000 after buying an additional 14,068 shares in the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays reduced their target price on Entergy from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (up from $88.00) on shares of Entergy in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Entergy from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Mizuho set a $97.00 price objective on Entergy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Raymond James Financial began coverage on Entergy in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.80.

Entergy Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE ETR opened at $93.55 on Friday. Entergy Corporation has a 1-year low of $64.38 and a 1-year high of $94.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $89.58 and a 200-day moving average of $85.19. The firm has a market cap of $41.76 billion, a PE ratio of 23.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.62.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.14. Entergy had a return on equity of 11.52% and a net margin of 14.35%.The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.92 EPS. Entergy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.750-3.95 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 13th. Entergy’s payout ratio is 59.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Entergy

In other news, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 4,463 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.50, for a total value of $403,901.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 3,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $300,279. The trade was a 57.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Profile

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.