Analysts Set Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) Price Target at $151.50

Shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $168.20.

Several brokerages have recently commented on VST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Vistra in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $178.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Vistra from $161.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Vistra from $135.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Vistra from $151.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Vistra in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $231.00 target price on the stock.

Insider Transactions at Vistra

In other Vistra news, Director Scott B. Helm sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.77, for a total value of $2,795,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 343,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,990,029.50. The trade was a 5.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen J. Muscato sold 207,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.34, for a total transaction of $33,413,514.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 318,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,352,424.58. This represents a 39.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 342,100 shares of company stock valued at $55,087,314. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vistra

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in shares of Vistra during the second quarter valued at about $64,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Vistra by 9.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 42,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,656,000 after acquiring an additional 3,747 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in shares of Vistra by 57.2% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 9,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $854,000 after acquiring an additional 3,611 shares during the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Vistra by 1.5% during the second quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 31,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,708,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of Vistra by 51.9% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 862,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,939,000 after acquiring an additional 294,494 shares during the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vistra Stock Performance

NYSE VST opened at $186.79 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $63.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.85, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.21. Vistra has a twelve month low of $39.13 and a twelve month high of $194.67. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $154.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $118.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.68.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $5.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $4.01. Vistra had a return on equity of 57.63% and a net margin of 12.51%. The firm had revenue of $6.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Vistra will post 4.48 EPS for the current year.

Vistra announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, November 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 2.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 20th were issued a dividend of $0.221 per share. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 20th. Vistra’s payout ratio is currently 16.60%.

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.