Hickory Point Bank & Trust Makes New $244,000 Investment in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Hickory Point Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Entergy by 21.4% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 986,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,840,000 after purchasing an additional 174,093 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Entergy by 40.7% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 18,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,448,000 after purchasing an additional 5,381 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Entergy by 4.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 280,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,885,000 after purchasing an additional 10,697 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Entergy during the fourth quarter worth about $4,393,000. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Entergy by 74.3% during the fourth quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 7,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 3,393 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total value of $450,146.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $292,210.88. The trade was a 60.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ETR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Entergy from $68.50 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Entergy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $58.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Monday, November 4th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.14.

Entergy Price Performance

ETR opened at $87.29 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $80.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.53. 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 Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.80 and a 52 week high of $88.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.57 billion, a PE ratio of 35.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.72.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.