Horizon Investment Services LLC Has $328,000 Stock Holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Horizon Investment Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 95.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,108 shares during the quarter. Horizon Investment Services LLC’s holdings in Entergy were worth $328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ETR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Entergy by 105.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,363,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $558,279,000 after buying an additional 3,773,492 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Entergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $259,944,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Entergy by 53.0% during 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. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake 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 valued at $243,867,000 after buying an additional 1,498,693 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Entergy Stock Performance

ETR 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 stock has a market cap of $36.35 billion, a PE ratio of 34.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.75.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last announced its 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. The business had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. Entergy’s payout ratio is 98.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ETR. UBS Group increased their price objective on Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Entergy from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com raised Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Six 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.75.

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.