Prudential Financial Inc. Grows Position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 68.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 235,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 95,649 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $17,865,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Entergy by 12.8% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 26,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,446,000 after acquiring an additional 2,976 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in Entergy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in Entergy by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in Entergy by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 384,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,474,000 after purchasing an additional 71,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Entergy by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 463,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,040,000 after buying an additional 2,617 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.75.

Entergy Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ETR opened at $83.96 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.59. Entergy Corporation has a 12-month low of $50.19 and a 12-month high of $88.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.48, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68.

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

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.77%.

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.