Greenwood Gearhart Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Greenwood Gearhart Inc. raised its position in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Free Report) by 100.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,844 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,922 shares during the quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc.'s holdings in Entergy were worth $1,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 26,312,267 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Entergy by 90.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $956,273,000 after purchasing an additional 5,998,760 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its stake in Entergy by 66.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 4,418,528 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Entergy by 106.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,236,816 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $774,103,000 after buying an additional 5,271,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 76.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,079,631 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $764,238,000 after buying an additional 4,360,772 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on ETR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Entergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $86.50 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Entergy from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Entergy from $79.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.25.

Entergy Price Performance

Shares of Entergy stock traded up $0.87 on Friday, hitting $83.11. 3,228,172 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,693,272. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.78. Entergy Corporation has a 52 week low of $51.75 and a 52 week high of $88.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. The business had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter 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 fiscal year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. Entergy's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.