Federated Hermes Inc. Acquires 643,554 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 23.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,399,181 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 643,554 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned 0.79% of Entergy worth $257,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 101.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,952,773,000 after purchasing an additional 26,312,267 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 128,667 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in shares of Entergy by 66.7% during the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 11,042,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $837,216,000 after buying an additional 4,418,528 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Entergy by 106.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,236,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $774,103,000 after buying an additional 5,271,559 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 76.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,079,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $764,238,000 after buying an additional 4,360,772 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ETR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Entergy from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.75.

Entergy Stock Performance

Entergy stock opened at $79.02 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.60. Entergy Corporation has a twelve month low of $50.19 and a twelve month high of $88.38. The company has a market capitalization of $34.04 billion, a PE ratio of 32.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. Research analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. Entergy’s payout ratio is currently 98.77%.

Entergy 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.