Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. Boosts Stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 103.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,779 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,570 shares during the period. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $1,879,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Entergy by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 986,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,840,000 after acquiring an additional 174,093 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Entergy by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 18,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,448,000 after acquiring an additional 5,381 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Entergy by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 280,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,885,000 after acquiring an additional 10,697 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Entergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,393,000. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Entergy by 74.3% during the 4th quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 7,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $603,000 after acquiring an additional 3,393 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:ETR opened at $81.23 on Monday. Entergy Corporation has a one year low of $50.19 and a one year high of $88.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $81.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.50.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.95%. Entergy’s payout ratio is 98.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total transaction of $450,146.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,952 shares in the company, valued at $292,210.88. This trade represents a 60.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on ETR. KeyCorp downgraded Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com raised Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Entergy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.14.

About Entergy

Entergy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and retail distribution of electricity in the United States. It generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power in portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, including the City of New Orleans; and distributes natural gas.