Short Interest in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Grows By 32.6%

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) was the target of a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,590,000 shares, an increase of 32.6% from the December 15th total of 4,970,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,410,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ETR shares. Bank of America downgraded shares of Entergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Entergy from $83.00 to $79.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Barclays upped their target price on Entergy from $68.50 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Entergy from $68.50 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.37.

Entergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ETR opened at $82.16 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. Entergy has a twelve month low of $48.08 and a twelve month high of $82.50. The company’s 50 day moving average is $75.81 and its 200 day moving average is $66.55. The company has a market cap of $35.23 billion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.71.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 9.53%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Entergy will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Entergy

In other news, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total value of $29,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $613,431. The trade was a 4.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total value of $450,146.72. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,210.88. This represents a 60.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,756 shares of company stock valued at $1,095,637 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ETR. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,501,509,000 after purchasing an additional 128,667 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in Entergy by 12.4% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 6,926,492 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $741,135,000 after buying an additional 763,834 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Entergy by 5.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $870,422,000 after buying an additional 315,750 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Entergy by 47.1% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,479,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $693,260,000 after acquiring an additional 2,075,776 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Entergy by 53.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,718,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $754,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,981,611 shares in the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.