Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Raises Holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Free Report) by 88.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 360,502 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 169,511 shares during the period. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. owned 0.08% of Entergy worth $27,333,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ETR. State Street Corp increased its stake in Entergy by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,501,509,000 after buying an additional 128,667 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Entergy by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $870,422,000 after buying an additional 315,750 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Entergy by 53.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,718,859 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $754,318,000 after buying an additional 1,981,611 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Entergy by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,965,257 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $651,206,000 after buying an additional 37,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 60.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $472,444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354,355 shares during the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on ETR. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $72.50 to $82.50 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $69.00 to $82.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $82.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total transaction of $450,146.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,952 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $292,210.88. This trade represents a 60.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Entergy Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE ETR traded down $0.92 during trading on Friday, hitting $84.94. The stock had a trading volume of 4,755,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,839,319. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.72. Entergy Corporation has a one year low of $49.80 and a one year high of $88.38. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.30.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Entergy's payout ratio is currently 98.56%.

Entergy Company Profile

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.