California Public Employees Retirement System Purchases 982,790 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Free Report) by 100.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,956,548 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 982,790 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.46% of Entergy worth $148,345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fortis Group Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Entergy by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 344 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 340 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Entergy in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Entergy by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. now owns 358 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sandy Spring Bank raised its holdings in Entergy by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 358 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on 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 lifted their target price on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com raised Entergy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $84.75.

Entergy Price Performance

ETR stock traded down $0.95 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $85.66. 3,430,508 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,601,596. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $83.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Entergy Corporation has a 52-week low of $50.19 and a 52-week high of $88.38. The company has a market capitalization of $36.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. Entergy's dividend payout ratio is presently 98.77%.

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.