Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) Raises Dividend to $1.20 Per Share

Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, October 25th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of 1.20 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. This is a positive change from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13.

Entergy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.1% annually over the last three years. Entergy has a dividend payout ratio of 58.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Entergy to earn $7.74 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.4%.

Entergy Stock Down 0.8 %

ETR stock traded down $1.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $136.42. The stock had a trading volume of 836,886 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,550,885. Entergy has a 1-year low of $90.78 and a 1-year high of $138.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a market capitalization of $29.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $126.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.48.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.98 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 14.75% and a return on equity of 10.10%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Entergy will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ETR shares. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Entergy from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $115.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $137.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $131.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.19.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 5,166 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $619,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,117 shares in the company, valued at $614,040. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total transaction of $388,672.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,307,787.26. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 5,166 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $619,920.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $614,040. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,810 shares of company stock worth $6,140,626 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Company 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.