Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Lowers Position in Vistra Corp. $VST

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. cut its stake in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 101,732 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,773 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Vistra were worth $16,422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vistra by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,588,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,709,519,000 after acquiring an additional 390,157 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Vistra by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,572,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $895,872,000 after acquiring an additional 35,258 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vistra by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,983,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $584,599,000 after acquiring an additional 303,573 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Vistra by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,344,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $459,264,000 after acquiring an additional 16,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Vistra by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,056,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,951,000 after acquiring an additional 178,835 shares in the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Vistra from $240.00 to $231.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Vistra from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $208.00 target price on shares of Vistra in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Vistra from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $191.00 to $203.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $208.00 target price on shares of Vistra in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Vistra has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $233.93.

Vistra Price Performance

VST opened at $144.15 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $48.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.15, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $154.85 and a 200 day moving average of $163.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.51, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.90. Vistra Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $132.66 and a fifty-two week high of $219.82.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $1.55. The company had revenue of $5.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. Vistra had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 105.64%. On average, research analysts expect that Vistra Corp. will post 9.31 EPS for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.229 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 22nd. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Stephanie Zapata Moore sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.31, for a total transaction of $1,603,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 114,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,340,906.79. This represents a 8.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Vistra Company Profile

Vistra (NYSE: VST) is an integrated power company that develops, owns and operates electricity generation and retail businesses in the United States. The company’s operations span wholesale power production—through a diversified fleet of thermal and lower‑carbon generation assets—and retail electricity supply to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Vistra serves organized wholesale markets and competitive retail markets, with a notable presence in Texas and other regional U.S. power markets.

Vistra’s core activities include the ownership and operation of generation facilities, the commercial dispatch and optimization of those assets into wholesale markets, and the sale of electricity and related services to end-use customers through its retail brands.