Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Sells 108 Shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators cut its holdings in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 17.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 501 shares of the company’s stock after selling 108 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Vistra were worth $59,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VST. Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its position in Vistra by 6.6% during the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,838,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $587,932,000 after buying an additional 425,126 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP grew its position in Vistra by 470.0% during the first quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 3,769,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,569,000 after buying an additional 3,108,511 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in Vistra by 9,668.5% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,940,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,779,000 after buying an additional 2,910,015 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in Vistra by 25.1% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 2,564,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,632,000 after buying an additional 514,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Vistra by 115.3% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,532,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,758,000 after buying an additional 1,356,488 shares in the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vistra Stock Up 7.6 %

NYSE VST opened at $135.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $46.63 billion, a PE ratio of 99.80 and a beta of 1.09. Vistra Corp. has a one year low of $34.24 and a one year high of $143.87. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $111.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.69). The business 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 quarter last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vistra Corp. will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vistra declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, November 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 2.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 20th will be given a dividend of $0.221 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 20th. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is 64.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Vistra from $157.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Vistra in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $178.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Vistra from $146.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Vistra from $133.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Vistra from $99.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Vistra currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.40.

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.