Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $84.75.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ETR. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 29th.

Entergy Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE ETR opened at $84.04 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.32. Entergy has a one year low of $50.19 and a one year high of $88.38. The company has a market capitalization of $36.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Entergy will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.77%.

Institutional Trading of Entergy

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Entergy by 101.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,952,773,000 after purchasing an additional 26,312,267 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 142.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 17,594,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,334,034,000 after buying an additional 10,347,926 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 90.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $956,273,000 after buying an additional 5,998,760 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Entergy by 71.4% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,884,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $976,895,000 after buying an additional 5,368,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Entergy by 106.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,236,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $774,103,000 after acquiring an additional 5,271,559 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.