Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC Buys Shares of 4,417 Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,417 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $335,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ETR. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 280,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,885,000 after acquiring an additional 10,697 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Entergy in the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Entergy in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,030,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Entergy by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 38,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,119,000 after purchasing an additional 6,505 shares during the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Entergy news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $292,210.88. This trade represents a 60.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Price Performance

ETR stock opened at $81.23 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $34.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. 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 $50.19 and a 52-week high of $88.38. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.50.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business earned $0.26 EPS. Research analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.95%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ETR. KeyCorp lowered Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.14.

Entergy Company 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.