Insider Selling: Vistra (NYSE:VST) CEO Sells 19,605 Shares of Stock

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) CEO James Burke sold 19,605 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.78, for a total value of $3,818,661.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 253,815 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,438,085.70. The trade was a 7.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Vistra Trading Down 0.2%

VST stock opened at $202.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $68.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.26, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.33. Vistra Corp. has a twelve month low of $90.51 and a twelve month high of $219.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58. The business has a fifty day moving average of $200.57 and a 200-day moving average of $170.34.

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

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.226 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 19th. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VST shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Vistra from $207.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Vistra from $179.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Vistra in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set a “strong-buy” rating and a $216.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price objective (down from $241.00) on shares of Vistra in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Vistra from $207.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.21.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VST. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Vistra during the second quarter worth about $930,080,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Vistra by 40.5% during the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,469,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,253,896,000 after buying an additional 1,864,931 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vistra during the first quarter worth about $209,149,000. Alkeon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Vistra by 280.6% during the second quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,356,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,876,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Vistra by 25.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,537,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $879,390,000 after buying an additional 913,350 shares during the period. 90.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.