Vistra (NYSE:VST) Earns Outperform Rating from BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Vistra (NYSE:VST) in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $146.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $125.00.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on VST. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Vistra from $110.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Vistra from $99.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Vistra from $105.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Vistra currently has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $118.14.

Vistra Stock Performance

NYSE VST opened at $131.33 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $45.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.57 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.47. Vistra has a twelve month low of $31.40 and a twelve month high of $143.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.69). The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.04 billion. Vistra had a return on equity of 21.05% and a net margin of 4.61%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Vistra will post 4.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 20th were given a dividend of $0.2195 per share. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vistra

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Castle Hook Partners LP grew its position in Vistra by 470.0% in the first quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 3,769,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,569,000 after purchasing an additional 3,108,511 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Vistra by 9,668.5% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,940,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,779,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,015 shares during the period. Electron Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Vistra by 468.2% in the 4th quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,128,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,006,000 after acquiring an additional 1,754,223 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Vistra by 115.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,532,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,758,000 after acquiring an additional 1,356,488 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Vistra by 1,358.2% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,228,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,596,000 after acquiring an additional 1,143,918 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Vistra Company Profile

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.