Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Receives $84.75 Consensus PT from Analysts

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $84.75.

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Entergy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Entergy by 101.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,952,773,000 after buying an additional 26,312,267 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 142.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 17,594,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,334,034,000 after acquiring an additional 10,347,926 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Entergy by 71.4% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,884,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $976,895,000 after purchasing an additional 5,368,396 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Entergy by 90.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $956,273,000 after purchasing an additional 5,998,760 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Entergy by 1.1% during 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. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Entergy Stock Performance

Entergy stock opened at $85.63 on Tuesday. Entergy has a 52 week low of $50.19 and a 52 week high of $88.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock has a market cap of $36.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $83.41 and a 200-day moving average of $76.13.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Entergy will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Entergy’s payout ratio is 98.77%.

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.