Franklin Resources Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 76.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,079,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,360,772 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $764,238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG lifted its holdings in Entergy by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 8,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $650,000 after buying an additional 4,284 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Entergy by 69.0% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 488,173 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,013,000 after acquiring an additional 199,341 shares in the last quarter. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Entergy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $295,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Entergy by 114.4% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 101,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,701,000 after purchasing an additional 54,192 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Entergy by 95.9% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,636 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 2,270 shares in the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ETR has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 29th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Entergy from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.75.

Entergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ETR opened at $84.38 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $36.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $83.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.96. Entergy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $50.19 and a fifty-two week high of $88.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 last year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. Entergy’s payout ratio is currently 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.