Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) Short Interest Up 5.3% in August

Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) saw a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,960,000 shares, a growth of 5.3% from the August 15th total of 2,810,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,600,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.03, for a total value of $72,018.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 150,731 shares in the company, valued at $18,092,241.93. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, COO Peter S. Norgeot, Jr. sold 11,472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.16, for a total transaction of $1,321,115.52. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,363,182.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.03, for a total value of $72,018.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,731 shares in the company, valued at $18,092,241.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 42,888 shares of company stock worth $5,110,766. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Entergy in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Tidemark LLC purchased a new stake in Entergy in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Heritage Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in Entergy by 2,172.7% in the 1st quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank lifted its stake in Entergy by 93.7% in the 2nd quarter. American National Bank now owns 277 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Entergy in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ETR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $115.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays upgraded shares of Entergy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $138.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $125.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Entergy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $125.35.

Entergy Stock Performance

NYSE:ETR traded down $1.96 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $126.65. The company had a trading volume of 548,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,558,203. Entergy has a 52 week low of $87.10 and a 52 week high of $129.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $117.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $110.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market cap of $27.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.90, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.16. Entergy had a net margin of 14.75% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The firm had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Entergy will post 7.22 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $1.13 per share. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.34%.

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.