James Burke Sells 21,379 Shares of Vistra (NYSE:VST) Stock

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) CEO James Burke sold 21,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.90, for a total value of $4,273,662.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 243,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,729,623. This trade represents a 8.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Vistra Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of VST stock opened at $207.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58. The stock has a market cap of $70.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $199.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.72. Vistra Corp. has a 1 year low of $90.51 and a 1 year high of $219.82.

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

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.226 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 19th. This is a boost from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Vistra from $207.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Vistra from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Vistra in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $256.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Vistra from $227.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Vistra to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vistra presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $218.20.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Vistra by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,660,027 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,228,880,000 after acquiring an additional 226,514 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its holdings in Vistra by 40.5% in the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,469,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,253,896,000 after purchasing an additional 1,864,931 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Vistra by 4.4% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,175,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,196,884,000 after purchasing an additional 258,983 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Vistra in the second quarter valued at $930,080,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Vistra by 25.2% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,537,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $879,390,000 after purchasing an additional 913,350 shares during the period. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vistra Company Profile

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.