Wealth Alliance Increases Stock Position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Wealth Alliance lifted its holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 32.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,686 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Entergy were worth $831,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 986,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,840,000 after purchasing an additional 174,093 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 18,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,448,000 after purchasing an additional 5,381 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 280,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,885,000 after purchasing an additional 10,697 shares during the period. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 97,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,795,000 after purchasing an additional 9,986 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Entergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,393,000. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Entergy

In related news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total value of $450,146.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,210.88. This trade 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 hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Entergy Trading Down 1.7 %

Entergy stock opened at $85.82 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $36.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.24, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.72. 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 Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.80 and a 1 year high of $88.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $79.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.19.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.75%. The firm had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp cut shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Six 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.14.

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.