Vistra (NYSE:VST) CEO James Burke Sells 19,596 Shares

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) CEO James Burke sold 19,596 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.30, for a total value of $3,905,482.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 251,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,108,006. This represents a 7.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Vistra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VST opened at $202.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $200.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.34. Vistra Corp. has a 1-year low of $90.51 and a 1-year high of $219.82. The company has a market cap of $68.53 billion, a PE ratio of 32.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.33.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.62). Vistra had a net margin of 12.90% and a return on equity of 108.41%. The business had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vistra Corp. will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 19th were issued a $0.226 dividend. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 19th. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is 14.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VST shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Vistra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Daiwa America raised Vistra from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Scotiabank started coverage on Vistra in a report on Monday, September 22nd. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $256.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Vistra in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price target (down previously from $241.00) on shares of Vistra in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.21.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VST. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Vistra in the 2nd quarter valued at about $930,080,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its stake in Vistra by 40.5% in the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,469,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,253,896,000 after purchasing an additional 1,864,931 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Vistra in the 1st quarter valued at about $209,149,000. Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Vistra by 280.6% in the 2nd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,356,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,876,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Vistra by 25.2% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,537,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $879,390,000 after buying an additional 913,350 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Vistra Company Profile

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.