Entergy Corporation to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.60 (NYSE:ETR)

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a dividend of 0.60 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%.

Entergy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.9% per year over the last three years. Entergy has a payout ratio of 55.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Entergy to earn $3.85 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.3%.

Entergy Price Performance

Entergy stock opened at $81.17 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $34.81 billion, a PE ratio of 19.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.71. Entergy has a one year low of $48.08 and a one year high of $84.26.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Entergy had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 14.83%. The company had revenue of $3.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Entergy will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ETR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Entergy from $83.00 to $79.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. KeyCorp lowered Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays raised their price target on Entergy from $68.50 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley raised Entergy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at Entergy

In other Entergy news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total transaction of $450,146.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $292,210.88. The trade was a 60.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 8,268 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.52, for a total value of $616,090.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,444.48. This trade represents a 67.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 14,756 shares of company stock worth $1,095,637. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.