Zimmer Partners LP Buys Shares of 294,000 Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Zimmer Partners LP bought a new stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 294,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $22,291,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ETR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Entergy by 101.9% in the fourth 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 during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Entergy by 142.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 17,594,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,334,034,000 after buying an additional 10,347,926 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Entergy by 90.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $956,273,000 after buying an additional 5,998,760 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Entergy by 71.4% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,884,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $976,895,000 after buying an additional 5,368,396 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Entergy by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,236,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $774,103,000 after buying an additional 5,271,559 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on ETR. UBS Group increased 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. KeyCorp raised Entergy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price target 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, 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.04.

Entergy Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Entergy stock opened at $82.95 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.23. Entergy Corporation has a 52-week low of $52.07 and a 52-week high of $88.38. The firm has a market cap of $35.73 billion, a PE ratio of 34.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.62. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.22. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. On average, analysts predict 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 will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.92%.

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.