Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 96.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 549,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 268,964 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of Entergy worth $41,642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Entergy by 2.1% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Entergy by 0.8% during the third quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 8,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,163,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Entergy by 0.9% during the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 8,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,065,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Entergy by 1.5% during the third quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 5,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $786,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in Entergy by 1.3% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 7,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $952,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ETR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Entergy from $72.50 to $82.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Entergy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Entergy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.14.

Entergy Stock Performance

Shares of ETR stock opened at $84.94 on Friday. Entergy Corporation has a one year low of $49.80 and a one year high of $88.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $79.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.72.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 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 earned $0.26 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s payout ratio is 98.56%.

Insider Activity at Entergy

In other Entergy news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $292,210.88. This trade represents a 60.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.