Empirical Finance LLC Purchases 259 Shares of Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR)

Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in shares of Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) by 3.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Entergy were worth $781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ETR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Entergy in the 4th quarter valued at $127,675,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Entergy in the 1st quarter valued at $92,257,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,961,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $400,901,000 after acquiring an additional 796,316 shares in the last quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 29.3% in the 4th quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 3,115,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $315,254,000 after acquiring an additional 706,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Entergy by 220.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 685,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,334,000 after purchasing an additional 471,291 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Reginald T. Jackson sold 9,229 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.71, for a total transaction of $1,003,284.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $235,465.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Reginald T. Jackson sold 9,229 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.71, for a total transaction of $1,003,284.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,166 shares in the company, valued at $235,465.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.23, for a total value of $165,345.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $273,260.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on ETR. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Entergy from $103.00 to $98.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Entergy from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $109.50 price objective (down from $117.00) on shares of Entergy in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Entergy from $107.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Entergy from $120.00 to $117.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.50.

Entergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ETR traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $109.17. 1,040,747 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,534,391. Entergy Co. has a 12-month low of $87.10 and a 12-month high of $114.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The company has a market cap of $23.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.88, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.71. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $108.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.56.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.36). The firm had revenue of $31.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 17.75%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Entergy Co. will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.