Simmons Bank Buys 22,126 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Simmons Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 97.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 44,738 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,126 shares during the period. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Entergy were worth $3,392,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ETR. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 51.2% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 9,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 3,233 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 307.0% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 43,252 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,692,000 after purchasing an additional 32,624 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 34.1% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 13,806 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,810,000 after purchasing an additional 3,507 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 8.6% during the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 4,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 19.4% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 29,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,840,000 after purchasing an additional 4,747 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $69.00 to $82.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp cut shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Entergy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.14.

Entergy Stock Performance

Shares of Entergy stock opened at $86.09 on Thursday. Entergy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.80 and a fifty-two week high of $88.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $80.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.15.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. The firm had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.77%.

Insider Transactions at Entergy

In other news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total transaction of $450,146.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $292,210.88. The trade was a 60.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Entergy

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.