Traders Purchase Large Volume of Entergy Call Options (NYSE:ETR)

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 4,398 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 289% compared to the typical volume of 1,131 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ralph Lewis Ropp bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $96.69 per share, with a total value of $96,690.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 1,050 shares in the company, valued at $101,524.50. This represents a 2,000.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Anastasia Minor sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.39, for a total value of $481,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $975,659.58. The trade was a 33.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,179 shares of company stock worth $981,707. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ETR. MFA Wealth Services increased its stake in Entergy by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Services now owns 2,891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Entergy by 0.8% during the third quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 13,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,348,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Entergy by 56.9% in the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 317 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,864 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 41,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,377,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Entergy Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:ETR traded down $0.64 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $92.17. The company had a trading volume of 369,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,241,853. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Entergy has a one year low of $73.15 and a one year high of $98.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $95.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.91. The company has a market capitalization of $41.16 billion, a PE ratio of 22.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.62.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter. Entergy had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 11.53%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter. As a group, research analysts forecast that Entergy will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. This is a boost from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 13th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ETR shares. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Entergy from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $104.00 price objective (up from $96.00) on shares of Entergy in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley set a $91.00 target price on Entergy in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Scotiabank set a $105.00 target price on Entergy and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Entergy from $91.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.09.

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.