State of Michigan Retirement System Increases Position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 100.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 116,404 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 58,202 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Entergy were worth $8,826,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Entergy by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,501,509,000 after purchasing an additional 128,667 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Entergy by 5.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $870,422,000 after buying an additional 315,750 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Entergy by 53.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,718,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $754,318,000 after buying an additional 1,981,611 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Entergy by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,965,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $651,206,000 after buying an additional 37,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Entergy by 60.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $472,444,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354,355 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Entergy Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ETR opened at $84.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.45 billion, a PE ratio of 34.78, 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 Corporation has a 52-week low of $50.19 and a 52-week high of $88.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $81.19 and a 200 day moving average of $73.10.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.77%.

Insider Transactions at Entergy

In other news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total value of $450,146.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $292,210.88. The trade was a 60.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ETR. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Entergy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.14.

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.