Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) Insider Haley Fisackerly Sells 1,500 Shares

Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) insider Haley Fisackerly sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.23, for a total value of $165,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,479 shares in the company, valued at $273,260.17. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Entergy Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:ETR traded up $0.65 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $111.48. The stock had a trading volume of 1,588,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,453,891. The company has a market capitalization of $23.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.69. Entergy Co. has a 1-year low of $87.10 and a 1-year high of $111.53. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.36). The firm had revenue of $31.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 17.75%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Entergy Co. will post 7.22 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 2nd will be paid a $1.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 1st. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. Entergy’s payout ratio is currently 45.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Entergy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ETR. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Entergy by 1.2% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 38,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,537,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Entergy by 14.8% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 26,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,407,000 after acquiring an additional 3,345 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Entergy by 5.5% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 49,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,620,000 after acquiring an additional 2,588 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in Entergy by 6.2% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 6,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Entergy by 5.1% in the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ETR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their target price on Entergy from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Entergy from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Barclays lowered their target price on Entergy from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Entergy from $111.00 to $104.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $117.00 target price on shares of Entergy in a research note on Monday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.45.

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.