Patton Fund Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 85,512 Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Patton Fund Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 85,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,484,000. Entergy comprises 1.3% of Patton Fund Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ETR. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Entergy by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,501,509,000 after purchasing an additional 128,667 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 53.0% during the third 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. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Entergy by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,965,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $651,206,000 after acquiring an additional 37,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Entergy by 60.6% in the third 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 period. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Entergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Entergy from $83.00 to $79.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Entergy from $68.50 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Five research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.81.

Entergy Stock Up 2.5 %

NYSE:ETR opened at $81.20 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. Entergy Corporation has a twelve month low of $48.08 and a twelve month high of $84.26. The company has a market cap of $34.82 billion, a PE ratio of 19.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s 50 day moving average is $77.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.42.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.04. Entergy had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 14.83%. The company had revenue of $3.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Entergy Corporation will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Entergy news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total transaction of $450,146.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $292,210.88. The trade was a 60.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 8,268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.52, for a total transaction of $616,090.02. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,032 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $300,444.48. This trade represents a 67.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,756 shares of company stock valued at $1,095,637. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.