Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Position Lifted by Financial Counselors Inc.

Financial Counselors Inc. increased its position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 93.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 317,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 153,027 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $24,084,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Entergy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,393,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC increased its stake in Entergy by 74.3% during the fourth quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 7,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $603,000 after purchasing an additional 3,393 shares during the last quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Entergy during the fourth quarter worth $217,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 324.3% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 561 shares during the period. Finally, Braun Stacey Associates Inc. raised its stake in Entergy by 88.8% during the fourth quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. now owns 360,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,333,000 after acquiring an additional 169,511 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ETR shares. UBS Group upped their target price on Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp lowered Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.75.

Entergy Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ETR opened at $82.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. Entergy Corporation has a 1-year low of $50.19 and a 1-year high of $88.38. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $83.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.47. 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 (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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. The business had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.