Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $77.40.

ETR has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Entergy from $83.00 to $79.50 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 18th. KeyCorp cut Entergy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $69.00 to $82.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $72.50 to $82.50 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Entergy to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th.

Insider Transactions at Entergy

In other Entergy news, COO Peter S. Norgeot, Jr. sold 15,844 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $1,029,860.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 69,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,090. This represents a 18.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 8,268 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.52, for a total value of $616,090.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 4,032 shares in the company, valued at $300,444.48. This represents a 67.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,512 shares of company stock worth $1,675,350. Insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Entergy

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ETR. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Entergy by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Acropolis Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Entergy by 0.8% in the third quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 8,836 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,163,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Entergy by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 8,087 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,065,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Entergy by 12.8% in the third quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 795 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Prossimo Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Entergy by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 5,971 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $786,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company's stock.

Entergy Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ETR stock traded up $0.10 on Friday, hitting $74.24. The stock had a trading volume of 3,294,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,235,442. The company's 50 day moving average price is $72.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.92. Entergy has a 1 year low of $48.08 and a 1 year high of $79.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 9.53%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.64 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Entergy will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. Entergy's payout ratio is currently 58.47%.

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.