Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ETR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 26,312,267 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 10,347,926 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 90.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $956,273,000 after acquiring an additional 5,998,760 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 71.4% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,884,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $976,895,000 after acquiring an additional 5,368,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 106.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,236,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $774,103,000 after acquiring an additional 5,271,559 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:ETR opened at $82.79 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.00, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.11. Entergy Corporation has a 12 month low of $52.07 and a 12 month high of $88.38.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Entergy’s payout ratio is currently 77.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ETR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp raised shares of Entergy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.04.

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.