Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Short Interest Up 53.4% in December

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,970,000 shares, an increase of 53.4% from the November 30th total of 3,240,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,500,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ETR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp cut Entergy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $68.50 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Entergy from $69.00 to $82.50 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Entergy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, December 21st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Entergy from $68.50 to $76.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Entergy news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total value of $450,146.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,952 shares in the company, valued at $292,210.88. The trade was a 60.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 8,268 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.52, for a total transaction of $616,090.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,032 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $300,444.48. The trade was a 67.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,756 shares of company stock worth $1,095,637 in the last 90 days. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Entergy

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Entergy by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,501,509,000 after buying an additional 128,667 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 12.4% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 6,926,492 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $741,135,000 after acquiring an additional 763,834 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Entergy by 5.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $870,422,000 after purchasing an additional 315,750 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Entergy by 47.1% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,479,044 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $693,260,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075,776 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Entergy by 53.0% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company's stock.

Entergy Stock Performance

ETR stock traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $75.76. The company had a trading volume of 1,429,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,229,882. Entergy has a one year low of $48.08 and a one year high of $79.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $73.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.35.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.04. Entergy had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 9.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Entergy will post 3.61 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. Entergy's dividend payout ratio is currently 58.39%.

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.