Stephens Inc. AR Grows Holdings in Entergy Corporation $ETR

Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 93.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 31,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,339 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Entergy were worth $2,643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ETR. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Entergy by 964.8% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,055,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $261,232,000 after purchasing an additional 2,768,734 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Entergy by 5.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,828,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,687,331,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695,348 shares during the last quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Entergy in the first quarter valued at about $194,429,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Entergy in the first quarter valued at about $123,648,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP boosted its stake in Entergy by 285.5% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,133,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $96,901,000 after acquiring an additional 839,474 shares during the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ETR shares. Barclays set a $100.00 target price on shares of Entergy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Scotiabank set a $105.00 target price on shares of Entergy and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $106.00 target price (up from $96.00) on shares of Entergy in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley set a $93.00 target price on shares of Entergy and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Entergy from $88.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.00.

Insider Activity at Entergy

In other news, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 4,463 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.50, for a total value of $403,901.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 3,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $300,279. This represents a 57.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Entergy Stock Performance

NYSE ETR opened at $95.99 on Thursday. Entergy Corporation has a 1 year low of $66.85 and a 1 year high of $98.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.85 billion, a PE ratio of 23.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.36.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Entergy had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 11.52%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter. Analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.85%.

About Entergy

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.