Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Raises Stock Holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its stake in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Free Report) by 51.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 289,560 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 98,091 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina owned about 0.07% of Entergy worth $21,954,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Entergy by 5.3% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 4,308 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $567,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Entergy by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 65,017 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,557,000 after purchasing an additional 3,549 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of Entergy by 9.5% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 12,094 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Entergy by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,965,257 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $651,206,000 after purchasing an additional 37,279 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Entergy by 7.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,727 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $761,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company's stock.

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Entergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ETR traded up $0.79 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $83.37. 2,993,996 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,697,866. Entergy Corporation has a 1-year low of $50.19 and a 1-year high of $88.38. The company has a market capitalization of $35.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The business's 50 day moving average is $83.48 and its 200-day moving average is $77.47.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. Entergy's payout ratio is 98.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ETR. UBS Group upped their price target on Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Entergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $86.50 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.25.

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.