Brokerages Set Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Price Target at $150.42

Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $150.42.

ETR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised Entergy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Entergy from $138.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Argus upgraded Entergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Entergy from $119.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Entergy from $137.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st.

Insider Activity

In other Entergy news, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.00, for a total transaction of $29,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,173 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $613,431. This represents a 4.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 4,134 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.03, for a total value of $616,090.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,016 shares in the company, valued at $300,444.48. This trade represents a 67.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 40,472 shares of company stock valued at $5,076,328. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Entergy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ETR. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,501,509,000 after acquiring an additional 128,667 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its holdings in Entergy by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 6,926,492 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $741,135,000 after purchasing an additional 763,834 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Entergy by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $870,422,000 after purchasing an additional 315,750 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 47.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,479,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $693,260,000 after buying an additional 2,075,776 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Entergy by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,965,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $651,206,000 after buying an additional 37,279 shares in the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Entergy Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of ETR stock opened at $151.06 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $137.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.50. Entergy has a 1-year low of $96.15 and a 1-year high of $156.85. The company has a market cap of $32.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.40, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 9.53%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Entergy will post 7.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.20 per share. This is a positive change from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.47%.

Entergy Company 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.