Fifth Third Bancorp Acquires 2,309 Shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 55.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,499 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,309 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Vistra were worth $896,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Vistra by 36.2% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,003,000 after acquiring an additional 6,190 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Vistra by 38.1% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 67,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,838,000 after purchasing an additional 18,740 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in Vistra by 52.0% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 58,324 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,015,000 after purchasing an additional 19,957 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Vistra during the 2nd quarter valued at about $215,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Vistra by 5.6% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 96,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,313,000 after buying an additional 5,094 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VST has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Vistra from $151.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Vistra from $105.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Vistra from $161.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Vistra in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $202.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Vistra in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $178.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.64.

Vistra Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of VST stock opened at $155.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.68, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $52.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.98, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.21. Vistra Corp. has a 1 year low of $40.57 and a 1 year high of $199.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $155.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.44.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $5.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $4.01. Vistra had a return on equity of 57.63% and a net margin of 12.51%. The business had revenue of $6.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Vistra Corp. will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Vistra declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, November 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 2.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vistra

In other news, Director Scott B. Helm sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.77, for a total value of $2,795,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 343,350 shares in the company, valued at $47,990,029.50. The trade was a 5.50 % 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. Also, EVP Stephen J. Muscato sold 207,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.34, for a total value of $33,413,514.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 318,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,352,424.58. This represents a 39.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 342,100 shares of company stock valued at $55,087,314 over the last 90 days. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Vistra Profile

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.