Simmons Bank Purchases 22,126 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Simmons Bank lifted its position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 97.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,738 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 22,126 shares during the period. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Entergy were worth $3,392,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ETR. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Entergy by 51.2% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 9,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,257,000 after buying an additional 3,233 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Entergy by 307.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 43,252 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,692,000 after buying an additional 32,624 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Entergy by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 13,806 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,810,000 after buying an additional 3,507 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in Entergy by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 4,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Entergy by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 29,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,840,000 after purchasing an additional 4,747 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp cut Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on Entergy from $72.50 to $82.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Entergy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.14.

Entergy Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ETR opened at $86.09 on Thursday. Entergy Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.80 and a 52-week high of $88.38. The company has a market capitalization of $37.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72.

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

Entergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.77%.

Insider Activity at Entergy

In other Entergy news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total value of $450,146.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $292,210.88. This represents a 60.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.