Vistra (NYSE:VST) Coverage Initiated at Janney Montgomery Scott

Investment analysts at Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of Vistra (NYSE:VST) in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $82.00 price target on the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 24.89% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Vistra from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $78.00 price objective on shares of Vistra in a report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Vistra from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Vistra currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $67.20.

Vistra Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of VST stock opened at $65.66 on Thursday. Vistra has a 12 month low of $22.67 and a 12 month high of $75.89. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.26. The stock has a market cap of $22.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 1.05.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.48) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($1.02). Vistra had a net margin of 10.10% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.48 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Vistra will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Stephanie Zapata Moore sold 98,020 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.50, for a total transaction of $5,734,170.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 161,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,470,448. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Vistra news, EVP Stephanie Zapata Moore sold 98,020 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.50, for a total transaction of $5,734,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 161,888 shares in the company, valued at $9,470,448. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Carrie Lee Kirby sold 72,748 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.63, for a total value of $4,556,207.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 184,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,536,508.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 257,285 shares of company stock valued at $15,404,397 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vistra

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VST. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Vistra by 19,070.8% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,566,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,426,000 after buying an additional 5,537,584 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Vistra in the fourth quarter valued at about $77,523,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vistra by 468.2% in the fourth quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,128,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,006,000 after acquiring an additional 1,754,223 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Vistra in the third quarter worth about $57,218,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Vistra by 2,443.7% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,781,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,418,000 after acquiring an additional 1,711,407 shares in the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vistra Company Profile

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.