Morgan Stanley Boosts Entergy (NYSE:ETR) Price Target to $78.00

Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) had its target price boosted by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $75.00 to $78.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the utilities provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective suggests a potential downside of 7.19% from the stock's current price.

ETR has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com raised Entergy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp downgraded Entergy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Entergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $86.50 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $84.75.

Remove Ads

Entergy Stock Performance

NYSE ETR traded up $0.16 on Thursday, hitting $84.04. 4,836,646 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,338,679. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Entergy has a fifty-two week low of $50.19 and a fifty-two week high of $88.38. The firm has a market cap of $36.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $83.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.32.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Entergy will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Entergy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ETR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Entergy by 101.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,952,773,000 after acquiring an additional 26,312,267 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Entergy by 142.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 17,594,747 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,334,034,000 after purchasing an additional 10,347,926 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Entergy by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,884,421 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $976,895,000 after purchasing an additional 5,368,396 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 5,998,760 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in Entergy by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,501,509,000 after buying an additional 128,667 shares in the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Entergy Company 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.