Royal Bank of Canada Increases Stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 80.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,673,139 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,089,169 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 1.09% of Entergy worth $354,317,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ETR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 101.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,952,773,000 after acquiring an additional 26,312,267 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Entergy by 142.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 17,594,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,334,034,000 after buying an additional 10,347,926 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 5,998,760 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Entergy by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,884,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $976,895,000 after buying an additional 5,368,396 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Entergy by 106.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,236,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $774,103,000 after buying an additional 5,271,559 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ETR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Entergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Entergy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.04.

Entergy Stock Up 1.6%

NYSE:ETR opened at $83.10 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.62. 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 Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $52.07 and a fifty-two week high of $88.38.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.92%.

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.