Entergy Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:ETR)

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 4,518 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 147% compared to the average daily volume of 1,826 put options.

Entergy Price Performance

Shares of Entergy stock opened at $84.05 on Thursday. Entergy has a twelve month low of $50.19 and a twelve month high of $88.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $36.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.53.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Entergy will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Entergy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Entergy by 101.9% during 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 raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 142.8% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 10,347,926 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 90.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $956,273,000 after acquiring an additional 5,998,760 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Entergy by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,884,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $976,895,000 after acquiring an additional 5,368,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Entergy by 106.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,236,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $774,103,000 after purchasing an additional 5,271,559 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on ETR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group raised their target price on Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Six equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.75.

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.