Vistra (NYSE:VST) Shares Climb 2.8% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) were up 2.8% on Tuesday. The stock traded as high as $163.63 and last traded at $162.4870. Approximately 5,249,469 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 3% from the average daily volume of 5,112,205 shares. The stock had previously closed at $158.13.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Vistra from $222.00 to $221.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Vistra from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Seaport Research Partners restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Vistra in a research report on Monday, June 15th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Vistra from $233.00 to $227.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $206.00 price objective on shares of Vistra in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.61.

Vistra Stock Up 2.8%

The firm has a market cap of $54.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.45 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $143.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $151.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by ($0.85). Vistra had a return on equity of 108.68% and a net margin of 11.55%. The firm had revenue of $4.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.46 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vistra Corp. will post 9.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 21st were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 21st. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.2290. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Vistra’s payout ratio is currently 15.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vistra news, CEO James Burke purchased 4,465 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $135.25 per share, for a total transaction of $603,891.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,146,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $155,044,108. The trade was a 0.39% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Scott A. Hudson sold 22,222 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.14, for a total transaction of $3,558,631.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 308,915 shares in the company, valued at $49,469,648.10. The trade was a 6.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.92% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VST. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Vistra in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,610,496,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Vistra by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,850,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,672,987,000 after acquiring an additional 79,972 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Vistra by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,436,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $516,616,000 after acquiring an additional 32,982 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Vistra during the 2nd quarter valued at about $468,354,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Vistra during the 2nd quarter valued at about $381,938,000. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vistra Company Profile

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) is an integrated energy company headquartered in Irving, Texas. The company operates electricity generation facilities and provides electricity and related energy services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Its portfolio includes natural gas, nuclear, coal, solar, and battery energy storage assets.

Vistra also operates a retail electricity business that offers power plans, renewable energy options, and energy-management services. Its retail brands include TXU Energy, Homefield Energy, Dynegy, and Ambit Energy, serving customers in competitive electricity markets across the United States.