Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 520,921 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 93.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,080,889 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 520,921 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.25% of Entergy worth $81,928,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fortis Group Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Entergy by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Entergy during the third quarter worth $27,000. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Entergy by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. now owns 358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sandy Spring Bank increased its holdings in Entergy by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ETR shares. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.75.

Entergy Stock Down 7.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ETR opened at $79.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $34.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.45, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.56. Entergy Corporation has a 52-week low of $50.19 and a 52-week high of $88.38. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.60. 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 posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. The business had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.