Cape Investment Advisory Inc. Purchases 2,052 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 99.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,052 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 1.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,501,509,000 after buying an additional 128,667 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Entergy by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $870,422,000 after acquiring an additional 315,750 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,981,611 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Entergy by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,965,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $651,206,000 after acquiring an additional 37,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,354,355 shares in the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Entergy Stock Up 2.4 %

NYSE ETR opened at $87.29 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $80.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.53. The company has a market capitalization of $37.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Entergy Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.80 and a 52 week high of $88.38.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.77%.

Insider Activity at Entergy

In other news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,952 shares in the company, valued at $292,210.88. The trade was a 60.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ETR shares. Bank of America downgraded Entergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $69.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Entergy from $69.00 to $82.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Entergy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $68.50 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.