Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,590,000 shares, an increase of 32.6% from the December 15th total of 4,970,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,410,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ETR shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Entergy from $83.00 to $79.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Entergy from $68.50 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. KeyCorp lowered Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on Entergy from $72.50 to $82.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Entergy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.37.

Entergy Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE ETR opened at $82.16 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $35.23 billion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.71. Entergy has a one year low of $48.08 and a one year high of $82.50.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 14.83%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Entergy will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. Entergy’s payout ratio is 58.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total transaction of $29,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $613,431. The trade was a 4.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was 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 directly owns 3,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $292,210.88. This trade represents a 60.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,756 shares of company stock valued at $1,095,637. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Entergy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ETR. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Entergy during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new position in shares of Entergy in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 423.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. IFS Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Entergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Ulland Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC now owns 400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.