Entergy Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:ETR)

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 4,518 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 147% compared to the average volume of 1,826 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ETR. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.75.

Entergy Price Performance

Shares of Entergy stock traded down $1.11 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $82.90. The company had a trading volume of 591,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,337,904. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.32. Entergy has a 1-year low of $50.19 and a 1-year high of $88.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a market capitalization of $35.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68.

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

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. 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 2.90%. Entergy’s payout ratio is presently 98.77%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Acropolis Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Entergy by 0.8% in the third quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 8,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,163,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 8,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,065,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in shares of Entergy by 1.3% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 7,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $952,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Gen Wealth Partners Inc grew its stake in shares of Entergy by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc now owns 668 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Hall Laurie J Trustee increased its holdings in Entergy by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Hall Laurie J Trustee now owns 450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

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.