Entergy (NYSE:ETR) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) saw an uptick in trading volume on Tuesday . 2,262,287 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 30% from the previous session’s volume of 3,249,205 shares.The stock last traded at $82.77 and had previously closed at $85.45.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ETR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com raised Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 29th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Entergy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.11.

Entergy Stock Down 2.4 %

The company has a 50-day moving average of $82.28 and a 200-day moving average of $74.50. The company has a market capitalization of $35.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. Entergy’s payout ratio is presently 98.77%.

Institutional Trading of Entergy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ETR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Entergy by 142.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 17,594,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,334,034,000 after purchasing an additional 10,347,926 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Entergy by 90.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $956,273,000 after purchasing an additional 5,998,760 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Entergy by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,884,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $976,895,000 after purchasing an additional 5,368,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Entergy by 106.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,236,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $774,103,000 after purchasing an additional 5,271,559 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Company 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.