Vistra (NYSE:VST) Upgraded by TD Cowen to Strong-Buy Rating

TD Cowen upgraded shares of Vistra (NYSE:VST) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Vistra from $179.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Cowen assumed coverage on Vistra in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Vistra from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Melius Research raised Vistra to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Vistra from $207.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $229.31.

Vistra Trading Down 0.3%

VST opened at $210.20 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58. The company has a fifty day moving average of $200.60 and a 200-day moving average of $174.96. Vistra has a twelve month low of $90.51 and a twelve month high of $219.82. The stock has a market cap of $71.22 billion, a PE ratio of 33.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.33.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.62). Vistra had a return on equity of 108.41% and a net margin of 12.90%.The business had revenue of $4.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Vistra will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.226 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 19th. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Vistra’s payout ratio is presently 14.35%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James A. Burke sold 43,074 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.75, for a total transaction of $8,991,697.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 217,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,303,968.75. The trade was a 16.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 547,510 shares of company stock worth $112,585,800 over the last 90 days. 1.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vistra

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in Vistra by 1.9% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 73,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vistra in the 1st quarter worth approximately $341,000. Peak Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vistra in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $547,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vistra by 29.1% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 255,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,021,000 after buying an additional 57,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tcfg Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vistra in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $258,000. 90.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Vistra

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.