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

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $82.14.

ETR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 29th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $69.00 to $82.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th.

Insider Transactions at Entergy

In related news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total value of $450,146.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,952 shares in the company, valued at $292,210.88. This trade represents a 60.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Entergy by 101.9% in 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 buying an additional 26,312,267 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Entergy by 142.8% in 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 buying an additional 10,347,926 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Entergy by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,884,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $976,895,000 after buying an additional 5,368,396 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Entergy by 90.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $956,273,000 after buying an additional 5,998,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Entergy by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,501,509,000 after purchasing an additional 128,667 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Trading Down 1.0 %

Entergy stock opened at $85.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $80.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.02, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.72. Entergy has a 52-week low of $49.80 and a 52-week high of $88.38.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Entergy will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.77%.

About Entergy

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.