Polianta Ltd Sells 2,700 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Polianta Ltd lessened its position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 15.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,700 shares during the quarter. Entergy accounts for 0.6% of Polianta Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Polianta Ltd’s holdings in Entergy were worth $1,222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ETR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Entergy by 101.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,952,773,000 after buying an additional 26,312,267 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Entergy by 142.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 17,594,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,334,034,000 after buying an additional 10,347,926 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Entergy by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,884,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $976,895,000 after buying an additional 5,368,396 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Entergy by 90.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $956,273,000 after buying an additional 5,998,760 shares during the period. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its stake in Entergy by 66.7% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 11,042,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $837,216,000 after buying an additional 4,418,528 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on ETR shares. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Entergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of Entergy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.04.

Entergy Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE:ETR opened at $83.22 on Friday. Entergy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $52.07 and a fifty-two week high of $88.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $82.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.17.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.22. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.92%.

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.