DnB Asset Management AS Buys 59,640 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

DnB Asset Management AS increased its stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Free Report) by 118.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 109,936 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 59,640 shares during the quarter. DnB Asset Management AS's holdings in Entergy were worth $8,335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ETR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 101.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,952,773,000 after buying an additional 26,312,267 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Entergy by 105.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,363,219 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $558,279,000 after acquiring an additional 3,773,492 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Entergy during the fourth quarter valued at about $259,944,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,981,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 87.3% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,215,746 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $243,867,000 after purchasing an additional 1,498,693 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Entergy Price Performance

ETR stock traded up $1.01 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $86.67. 2,005,009 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,193,913. The stock has a market cap of $37.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. Entergy Corporation has a one year low of $50.19 and a one year high of $88.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.28.

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

Entergy Dividend Announcement

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 $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Entergy's dividend payout ratio is 98.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on ETR shares. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Entergy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Six 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.75.

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.