Vistra (NYSE:VST) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $105.00 to $141.00. The stock had previously closed at $125.37, but opened at $128.40. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Vistra shares last traded at $133.37, with a volume of 3,362,027 shares.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Vistra from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Vistra from $99.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Vistra from $110.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $115.14.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Castle Hook Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Vistra by 470.0% during the 1st quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 3,769,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,569,000 after purchasing an additional 3,108,511 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Vistra by 9,668.5% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,940,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,015 shares in the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Vistra by 468.2% during the 4th quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,128,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,006,000 after buying an additional 1,754,223 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Vistra by 115.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,532,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,758,000 after purchasing an additional 1,356,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Vistra by 1,358.2% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,228,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,596,000 after acquiring an additional 1,143,918 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Vistra Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.98. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $86.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.89. The stock has a market cap of $46.34 billion, a PE ratio of 81.85 and a beta of 1.08.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last issued 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). The company had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.04 billion. Vistra had a return on equity of 21.05% and a net margin of 4.61%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. Research analysts expect that Vistra Corp. will post 4.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 20th were issued a $0.2195 dividend. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is 53.37%.

Vistra Company 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.