Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Increases Holdings in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 1,358.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,228,144 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,143,918 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Vistra were worth $105,596,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vistra during the 4th quarter valued at about $203,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Vistra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $77,523,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Vistra by 89.2% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 10,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 4,772 shares during the last quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Vistra in the 4th quarter worth approximately $277,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vistra in the 4th quarter worth $221,000. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vistra Stock Performance

Vistra stock opened at $107.88 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. Vistra Corp. has a twelve month low of $31.16 and a twelve month high of $108.26. The company has a market capitalization of $37.06 billion, a PE ratio of 66.18 and a beta of 1.08.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.69). Vistra had a net margin of 4.61% and a return on equity of 21.05%. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Vistra Corp. will post 4.52 EPS for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 20th will be given a dividend of $0.2195 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 20th. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VST shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Vistra in a report on Friday, September 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $99.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Vistra from $109.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Vistra from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with 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 “Buy” and an average target price of $100.83.

Vistra Profile

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.