Vistra (NYSE:VST) Shares Up 2.3% on Analyst Upgrade

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)’s stock price shot up 2.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $110.00 to $132.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Vistra traded as high as $115.57 and last traded at $114.20. 2,848,897 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 6,666,592 shares. The stock had previously closed at $111.63.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on VST. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Vistra from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Vistra in a research report on Friday, September 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $99.00 target price on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vistra

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Vistra during the 4th quarter worth approximately $203,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Vistra in the 4th quarter worth approximately $77,523,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vistra by 89.2% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 10,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 4,772 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vistra during the 4th quarter valued at $221,000. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. acquired a new position in shares of Vistra in the fourth quarter worth $510,000. 90.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vistra Trading Up 2.3 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The business has a 50-day moving average of $80.66 and a 200-day moving average of $81.20. The stock has a market cap of $39.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.06 and a beta of 1.08.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $4.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Vistra Corp. will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 20th will be issued a $0.2195 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 20th. This is a boost from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.37%.

About Vistra

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.