First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 552,523 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Free Report) by 62.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,442,111 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 552,523 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.34% of Entergy worth $109,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Entergy by 101.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,952,773,000 after purchasing an additional 26,312,267 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Entergy by 90.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $956,273,000 after buying an additional 5,998,760 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in Entergy by 66.7% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 11,042,159 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $837,216,000 after buying an additional 4,418,528 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 106.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,236,816 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $774,103,000 after acquiring an additional 5,271,559 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Entergy by 76.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,079,631 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $764,238,000 after purchasing an additional 4,360,772 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ETR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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, February 19th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Entergy in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Entergy from $79.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Entergy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $85.25.

Entergy Stock Performance

ETR traded down $0.37 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $84.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,317,041 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,674,206. Entergy Corporation has a twelve month low of $52.07 and a twelve month high of $88.38. The stock has a market cap of $36.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.74, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.25. 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 (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. The firm had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. Research analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. Entergy's dividend payout ratio is currently 98.77%.

Entergy 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.