Vistra Corp. $VST Shares Bought by Aberdeen Group plc

Aberdeen Group plc raised its holdings in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 12.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 131,980 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 14,697 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc’s holdings in Vistra were worth $25,579,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VST. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Vistra in the first quarter valued at $209,149,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Vistra by 2,341.6% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 865,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,755,000 after acquiring an additional 830,111 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vistra by 102.5% in the first quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 973,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,309,000 after acquiring an additional 492,765 shares in the last quarter. 140 Summer Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Vistra in the first quarter valued at about $56,876,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vistra by 52.2% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 943,057 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,761,000 after acquiring an additional 323,264 shares in the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Vistra news, CEO James A. Burke sold 21,365 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.55, for a total value of $4,434,305.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 269,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,907,328.40. This represents a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 463,350 shares of company stock valued at $95,374,138 over the last quarter. 1.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on VST shares. Melius Research raised shares of Vistra to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Vistra from $207.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Vistra from $207.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Vistra in a report on Monday, September 22nd. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $256.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Daiwa America raised shares of Vistra from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $227.58.

Vistra Stock Up 6.3%

VST stock opened at $209.22 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $70.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.33. Vistra Corp. has a 52 week low of $90.51 and a 52 week high of $219.82. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $200.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58.

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

Vistra Increases Dividend

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

Vistra 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.