Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Free Report) by 47.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 458,764 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 146,724 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned 0.11% of Entergy worth $34,783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ETR. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Entergy by 53.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,718,859 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $754,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,981,611 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Entergy by 139.5% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,423,556 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $183,754,000 after buying an additional 1,411,473 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Entergy by 105.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,748,828 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $208,416,000 after buying an additional 1,408,476 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Entergy by 60.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $472,444,000 after buying an additional 1,354,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Entergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $101,133,000. 88.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Entergy Trading Up 2.6 %
ETR stock traded up $2.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $85.00. The stock had a trading volume of 3,297,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,256,440. The firm has a market cap of $36.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Entergy Corporation has a 1-year low of $50.19 and a 1-year high of $88.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $82.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.32.
Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Entergy Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Entergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.77%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of brokerages have weighed in on ETR. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Entergy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $84.11.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Entergy
About Entergy
(
Free Report)
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.
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