First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 62.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,442,111 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 552,523 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Entergy were worth $109,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ETR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Entergy by 101.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 26,312,267 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Entergy by 90.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $956,273,000 after buying an additional 5,998,760 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Entergy by 106.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,236,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $774,103,000 after acquiring an additional 5,271,559 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in Entergy by 66.7% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 11,042,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $837,216,000 after acquiring an additional 4,418,528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Entergy by 76.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,079,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $764,238,000 after acquiring an additional 4,360,772 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ETR shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Entergy from $94.00 to $89.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.25.

Entergy Stock Performance

NYSE:ETR opened at $83.11 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $35.80 billion, a PE ratio of 34.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.94. Entergy Corporation has a 1-year low of $51.75 and a 1-year high of $88.38.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly 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. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.