Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP Buys 633,369 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP boosted its stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 237.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 900,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 633,369 shares during the quarter. Entergy accounts for approximately 1.6% of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP’s holdings in Entergy were worth $68,246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in Entergy by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,501,509,000 after acquiring an additional 128,667 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Entergy by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $870,422,000 after purchasing an additional 315,750 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 53.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,718,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $754,318,000 after purchasing an additional 1,981,611 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Entergy by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,965,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $651,206,000 after buying an additional 37,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Entergy by 60.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $472,444,000 after buying an additional 1,354,355 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ETR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 29th. KeyCorp cut shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.11.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $292,210.88. This trade represents a 60.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Stock Performance

Shares of ETR stock opened at $82.31 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $35.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. Entergy Corporation has a one year low of $50.19 and a one year high of $88.38. The company’s 50-day moving average is $81.62 and its 200 day moving average is $73.81.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The firm 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 prior year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s payout ratio is 98.77%.

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.