128,553 Shares in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Bought by Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 128,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,746,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Entergy by 101.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,952,773,000 after buying an additional 26,312,267 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in Entergy by 66.7% during the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 11,042,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $837,216,000 after acquiring an additional 4,418,528 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 106.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,236,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $774,103,000 after acquiring an additional 5,271,559 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 76.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,079,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $764,238,000 after acquiring an additional 4,360,772 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 105.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,363,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $558,279,000 after acquiring an additional 3,773,492 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ETR shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of 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 raised Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Six research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Entergy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.75.

Entergy Stock Performance

NYSE:ETR opened at $79.02 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.69. The stock has a market cap of $34.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.56. Entergy Corporation has a twelve month low of $50.19 and a twelve month high of $88.38.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last announced 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current 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. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s payout ratio is presently 98.77%.

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.