Entergy (NYSE:ETR) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $82.92 and last traded at $82.96, with a volume of 1050 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $81.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ETR has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Entergy from $68.50 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Entergy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Entergy from $68.50 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Entergy from $72.50 to $82.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Entergy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.37.

Entergy Trading Down 1.1 %

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $76.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.38. The firm has a market cap of $35.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.04. Entergy had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 14.83%. The business had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.64 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.47%.

Insider Activity at Entergy

In related news, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total transaction of $29,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,346 shares in the company, valued at $613,431. This trade represents a 4.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 8,268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.52, for a total value of $616,090.02. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $300,444.48. This trade represents a 67.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,756 shares of company stock worth $1,095,637 in the last three months. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Entergy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in Entergy by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,501,509,000 after purchasing an additional 128,667 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Entergy by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $870,422,000 after purchasing an additional 315,750 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Entergy by 47.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,479,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $693,260,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075,776 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Entergy by 53.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,718,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $754,318,000 after purchasing an additional 1,981,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Entergy by 0.8% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

About Entergy

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.