VSM Wealth Advisory LLC Takes $30,000 Position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $30,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ETR. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $754,318,000 after buying an additional 1,981,611 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Entergy by 87.3% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,215,746 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $243,867,000 after purchasing an additional 1,498,693 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Entergy by 139.5% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,423,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $183,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411,473 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Entergy by 105.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,748,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $208,416,000 after purchasing an additional 1,408,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Entergy by 60.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $472,444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354,355 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on ETR. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 29th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.32.

Entergy Price Performance

Entergy stock opened at $84.62 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $36.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.80. Entergy Corporation has a 12-month low of $50.19 and a 12-month 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.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.77%.

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.