Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Shares Purchased by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP boosted its stake in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 35.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 417,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 108,097 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Entergy were worth $31,622,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Entergy by 101.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,952,773,000 after purchasing an additional 26,312,267 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew 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 valued at $754,318,000 after buying an additional 1,981,611 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 87.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,215,746 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $243,867,000 after buying an additional 1,498,693 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Entergy by 139.5% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,423,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $183,754,000 after buying an additional 1,411,473 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Entergy by 105.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,748,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $208,416,000 after buying an additional 1,408,476 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.75.

Entergy Price Performance

ETR stock opened at $84.38 on Friday. Entergy Corporation has a 1 year low of $50.19 and a 1 year high of $88.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $83.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.75.

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

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.