Gulf International Bank UK Ltd Grows Position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Gulf International Bank UK Ltd grew its stake in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 97.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,112 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,380 shares during the quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd’s holdings in Entergy were worth $2,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Entergy by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,501,509,000 after purchasing an additional 128,667 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Entergy by 5.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $870,422,000 after acquiring an additional 315,750 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Entergy by 53.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,718,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $754,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,981,611 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Entergy by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,965,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $651,206,000 after acquiring an additional 37,279 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Entergy by 60.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $472,444,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354,355 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on ETR shares. Bank of America lowered Entergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp lowered Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley raised Entergy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. 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 note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on Entergy from $72.50 to $82.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Six 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.14.

Entergy Price Performance

NYSE ETR opened at $87.29 on Friday. Entergy Corporation has a one year low of $49.80 and a one year high of $88.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $80.59 and a 200 day moving average of $72.43. The company has a market capitalization of $37.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.85, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.72. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. Entergy’s payout ratio is 98.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Entergy news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total value of $450,146.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,210.88. This trade represents a 60.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.