Advisors Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 125.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 49,516 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $6,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised 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 valued at $1,501,509,000 after acquiring an additional 128,667 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Entergy by 5.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $870,422,000 after purchasing an additional 315,750 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 1,981,611 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Entergy by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,965,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $651,206,000 after purchasing an additional 37,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Entergy by 60.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $472,444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354,355 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ETR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 29th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.11.

Entergy Price Performance

ETR opened at $83.46 on Wednesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $35.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.27, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $82.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.66. Entergy Corporation has a 12-month low of $50.19 and a 12-month high of $88.38.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.