Vistra (NYSE:VST) Stock Price Up 2.5% – What’s Next?

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)’s stock price traded up 2.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $195.19 and last traded at $193.0480. 3,545,195 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 6,493,271 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.30.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Melius began coverage on shares of Vistra in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price target for the company. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Vistra from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Vistra in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $256.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Vistra in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Vistra from $227.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vistra presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $229.93.

Vistra Stock Up 2.5%

The stock has a market capitalization of $65.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58. The business’s 50-day moving average is $199.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $182.62.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.62). The business had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. Vistra had a net margin of 12.90% and a return on equity of 108.41%. Equities analysts anticipate that Vistra Corp. will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.227 per share. This represents a $0.91 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 22nd. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James A. Burke sold 9,641 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.30, for a total transaction of $1,853,964.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 298,967 shares in the company, valued at $57,491,354.10. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 723,910 shares of company stock valued at $148,086,569. 1.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vistra

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Vistra in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $930,080,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Vistra by 40.5% in the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,469,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,253,896,000 after acquiring an additional 1,864,931 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Vistra in the first quarter worth approximately $209,149,000. Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Vistra by 280.6% in the second quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,356,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Vistra by 15.1% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,106,465 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,392,299,000 after acquiring an additional 930,912 shares during the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vistra Company 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.