Xponance Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Xponance Inc. decreased its position in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 761 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $4,751,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ETR. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Entergy by 53.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,718,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $754,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,981,611 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in Entergy by 87.3% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,215,746 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $243,867,000 after acquiring an additional 1,498,693 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Entergy by 139.5% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,423,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $183,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411,473 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Entergy by 105.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,748,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $208,416,000 after acquiring an additional 1,408,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Entergy by 60.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $472,444,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354,355 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ETR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.11.

Entergy Stock Performance

ETR stock opened at $84.75 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $36.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.80, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.73. Entergy Corporation has a one year low of $50.19 and a one year 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.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s payout ratio is currently 98.77%.

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.