Royal Bank of Canada Sells 270,295 Shares of Vistra Corp. $VST

Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its holdings in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 14.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,609,804 shares of the company’s stock after selling 270,295 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Vistra were worth $189,056,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Energy Income Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vistra by 3.2% in the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 427,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,187,000 after buying an additional 13,115 shares in the last quarter. Steamboat Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Vistra by 303.2% during the first quarter. Steamboat Capital Partners LLC now owns 19,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,308,000 after purchasing an additional 14,780 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Vistra by 17.2% during the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vistra by 296.3% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,548,000 after purchasing an additional 41,687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vistra by 30.8% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 70,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,232,000 after purchasing an additional 16,490 shares in the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VST shares. Evercore ISI set a $192.00 price target on shares of Vistra and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Vistra from $179.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Vistra from $207.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Vistra in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set a “strong-buy” rating and a $216.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Vistra to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.43.

Vistra Stock Performance

NYSE VST opened at $189.33 on Tuesday. Vistra Corp. has a 52-week low of $72.90 and a 52-week high of $216.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $195.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $159.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a market capitalization of $64.15 billion, a PE ratio of 30.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.34.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.62). Vistra had a return on equity of 108.41% and a net margin of 12.90%.The company had revenue of $4.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.15 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Vistra Corp. will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.226 per share. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 19th. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is 14.35%.

Insider Transactions at Vistra

In other news, Director Scott B. Helm sold 50,000 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.75, for a total value of $8,637,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 255,192 shares in the company, valued at $44,084,418. This trade represents a 16.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John R. Sult sold 25,000 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.67, for a total transaction of $4,291,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 75,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,037,649.82. The trade was a 24.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

About Vistra

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.