AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 652,925 Shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)

AQR Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 51.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 624,175 shares of the company’s stock after selling 652,925 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Vistra were worth $53,667,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Vistra during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,675,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its position in shares of Vistra by 41.2% during the 4th quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 115,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,453,000 after purchasing an additional 33,738 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in shares of Vistra by 633.7% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 58,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,260,000 after purchasing an additional 50,672 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vistra by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 206,648 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,768,000 after buying an additional 15,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. bought a new position in Vistra during the first quarter valued at about $673,000. 90.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on VST shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Vistra from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Vistra from $99.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Vistra from $110.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vistra presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $110.83.

Vistra Stock Up 3.1 %

VST opened at $117.72 on Friday. Vistra Corp. has a 12 month low of $31.16 and a 12 month high of $122.01. The company has a market cap of $40.44 billion, a PE ratio of 72.22 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $83.63 and a 200 day moving average of $82.63.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.69). Vistra had a return on equity of 21.05% and a net margin of 4.61%. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vistra Corp. will post 4.7 EPS for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.2195 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 20th. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Vistra’s payout ratio is presently 53.99%.

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.