Entergy (NYSE:ETR) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $82.92 and last traded at $82.96, with a volume of 1050 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $81.99.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Entergy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on Entergy from $68.50 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com raised Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 29th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Entergy from $69.00 to $82.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Six research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.37.

Entergy Stock Performance

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 $35.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.38.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.04. Entergy had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 14.83%. The firm had revenue of $3.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.64 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.47%.

Insider Activity at Entergy

In related news, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 400 shares of Entergy 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. This trade represents a 4.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of Entergy 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 transaction, the insider now owns 3,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,210.88. This represents a 60.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,756 shares of company stock worth $1,095,637. 0.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Entergy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Entergy by 21.4% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 986,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,840,000 after buying an additional 174,093 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Entergy by 40.7% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 18,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,448,000 after buying an additional 5,381 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Entergy by 4.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 280,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,885,000 after purchasing an additional 10,697 shares in the last quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Entergy by 11.4% during the third quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 97,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,795,000 after purchasing an additional 9,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Entergy during the third quarter worth approximately $32,541,000. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.