Xponance Inc. Decreases Stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Xponance Inc. reduced its stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 62,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 761 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $4,751,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Entergy by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $870,422,000 after buying an additional 315,750 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Entergy by 53.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,718,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $754,318,000 after buying an additional 1,981,611 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Entergy by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,965,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $651,206,000 after buying an additional 37,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Entergy by 60.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $472,444,000 after buying an additional 1,354,355 shares during the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Entergy Price Performance

Entergy stock opened at $84.75 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $82.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. Entergy Corporation has a 1 year low of $50.19 and a 1 year high of $88.38.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. Entergy’s payout ratio is currently 98.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ETR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.11.

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.