Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) Position Cut by Inspire Investing LLC

Inspire Investing LLC trimmed its stake in Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) by 15.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 22,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,073 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Entergy were worth $2,429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in Entergy in the second quarter valued at $818,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Entergy by 7.4% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 466,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,927,000 after acquiring an additional 32,017 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in Entergy by 22.8% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 5,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $550,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Entergy by 32.9% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 20,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,186,000 after acquiring an additional 5,057 shares during the period. Finally, Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Entergy by 34.6% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 58,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,304,000 after acquiring an additional 15,150 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Entergy from $100.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays raised Entergy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $138.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Argus raised Entergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Entergy from $131.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Entergy from $124.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $125.35.

Entergy Stock Down 0.4 %

ETR opened at $128.61 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $117.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.50. Entergy Co. has a twelve month low of $87.10 and a twelve month high of $129.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $27.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.16. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 14.75%. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Entergy Co. will post 7.22 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $1.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.34%.

Insider Transactions at Entergy

In other news, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total transaction of $388,672.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,731 shares in the company, valued at $18,307,787.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, COO Peter S. Norgeot, Jr. sold 3,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.56, for a total transaction of $398,320.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 34,993 shares in the company, valued at $4,288,742.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 3,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total value of $388,672.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 150,731 shares in the company, valued at $18,307,787.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 42,888 shares of company stock worth $5,110,766 over the last three months. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.