Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. Makes New $3.01 Million Investment in Vistra Corp. $VST

Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. purchased a new position in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 25,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,011,000. Vistra accounts for approximately 1.3% of Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in shares of Vistra by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 73,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vistra in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $341,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vistra in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $432,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vistra by 29.1% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 255,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,021,000 after purchasing an additional 57,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Vistra by 12.9% in the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 1,955 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Vistra

In other Vistra news, EVP Stephanie Zapata Moore sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total transaction of $5,650,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 88,073 shares in the company, valued at $14,218,505.12. This represents a 28.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John R. Sult sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.67, for a total value of $4,291,750.00. Following the sale, the director owned 75,946 shares in the company, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 166,000 shares of company stock worth $27,371,650. 1.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VST has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI set a $192.00 target price on Vistra and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Vistra from $178.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Vistra in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating and a $216.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on Vistra from $207.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Vistra from $145.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vistra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.62.

Vistra Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of VST opened at $197.19 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $66.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.30. Vistra Corp. has a one year low of $72.90 and a one year high of $216.85. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $191.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $157.34.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.62). Vistra had a net margin of 12.90% and a return on equity of 108.41%. The business had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.15 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vistra Corp. will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Vistra’s payout ratio is currently 14.35%.

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.