HM Payson & Co. Purchases 2,213 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

HM Payson & Co. grew its position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 106.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,213 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ETR. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Entergy by 53.0% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Entergy by 139.5% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,423,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $183,754,000 after buying an additional 1,411,473 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Entergy by 105.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,748,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $208,416,000 after buying an additional 1,408,476 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Entergy by 60.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $472,444,000 after buying an additional 1,354,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Entergy in the 4th quarter valued at $101,133,000. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on ETR shares. KeyCorp lowered Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective 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. StockNews.com raised Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.14.

Entergy Trading Up 0.1 %

ETR stock opened at $81.23 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $34.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.36, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. Entergy Corporation has a twelve month low of $50.19 and a twelve month high of $88.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The business has a fifty day moving average of $81.40 and a 200-day moving average of $73.50.

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

Entergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.77%.

Insider Activity at Entergy

In related news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $292,210.88. This represents a 60.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.