CWS Financial Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 3,999 Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

CWS Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 3,999 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $303,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $870,422,000 after acquiring an additional 315,750 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 53.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,718,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $754,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,981,611 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,965,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $651,206,000 after acquiring an additional 37,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 60.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $472,444,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354,355 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Entergy

In other news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total value of $450,146.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $292,210.88. This trade represents a 60.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on ETR shares. KeyCorp downgraded Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Entergy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.14.

Entergy Stock Performance

NYSE ETR opened at $85.21 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $36.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $79.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.86. Entergy Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.80 and a 1-year high of $88.38.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.77%.

Entergy Profile

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.