Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $150.42.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ETR shares. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Entergy from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Entergy from $143.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 9th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Entergy from $138.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Entergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 19,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.35, for a total transaction of $2,310,720.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 150,731 shares in the company, valued at $18,140,475.85. This represents a 11.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Peter S. Norgeot, Jr. sold 3,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.56, for a total transaction of $398,320.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 34,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,288,742.08. This trade represents a 8.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,872 shares of company stock worth $5,004,310 over the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Entergy

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 55.4% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 14,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 5,303 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 21.4% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 986,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,840,000 after purchasing an additional 174,093 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 145.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 24,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,551,000 after purchasing an additional 14,293 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 17.5% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 41,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,397,000 after purchasing an additional 6,197 shares during the period. Finally, Ausbil Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 11.4% in the third quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 97,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,795,000 after purchasing an additional 9,986 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of ETR opened at $155.94 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $138.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $33.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.71. Entergy has a fifty-two week low of $96.15 and a fifty-two week high of $156.85.

Entergy’s stock is scheduled to split on Friday, December 13th. The 2-1 split was announced on Thursday, October 31st. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Thursday, December 12th.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. Entergy had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 9.53%. The company had revenue of $3.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.27 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Entergy will post 7.22 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This is a positive change from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is 58.47%.

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.