Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Sells 274 Shares of Vistra Corp. $VST

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 7.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,537 shares of the company’s stock after selling 274 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Vistra were worth $686,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in VST. Banque Transatlantique SA lifted its position in shares of Vistra by 132.0% during the first quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. raised its position in Vistra by 275.4% in the first quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 229 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. City State Bank raised its position in Vistra by 210.0% in the second quarter. City State Bank now owns 155 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Keener Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in Vistra in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Vistra in the first quarter worth about $37,000. 90.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Vistra from $227.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Vistra from $207.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Vistra in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vistra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Vistra from $229.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $229.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James A. Burke sold 43,074 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.75, for a total transaction of $8,991,697.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 217,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,303,968.75. The trade was a 16.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 723,910 shares of company stock worth $148,086,569 over the last three months. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Vistra Stock Performance

NYSE VST opened at $188.36 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $199.50 and its 200-day moving average is $182.62. Vistra Corp. has a 12-month low of $90.51 and a 12-month high of $219.82. 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 firm has a market cap of $63.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.227 per share. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.91 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 22nd. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.35%.

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.