Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the five research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $67.20.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on VST shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Vistra from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price on shares of Vistra in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on Vistra in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $82.00 price target for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Vistra from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th.

Vistra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VST opened at $66.70 on Thursday. Vistra has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $75.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $61.54 and its 200-day moving average is $45.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.63 and a beta of 1.05.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.48) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($1.02). The business had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.48 billion. Vistra had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 10.10%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vistra will post 3.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 20th were paid a $0.215 dividend. This represents a $0.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 19th. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is 24.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vistra news, EVP Stephanie Zapata Moore sold 98,020 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.50, for a total value of $5,734,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 161,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,470,448. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Stephanie Zapata Moore sold 98,020 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.50, for a total value of $5,734,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 161,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,470,448. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Carrie Lee Kirby sold 72,748 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.63, for a total value of $4,556,207.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 184,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,536,508.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 257,285 shares of company stock worth $15,404,397. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VST. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Vistra in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Vistra in the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Vistra by 160.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Vistra in the third quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Vistra by 64.4% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 840 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Vistra Company Profile

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.