American Century Companies Inc. Decreases Stake in Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR)

American Century Companies Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) by 16.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 145,671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 28,188 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Entergy worth $15,587,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Entergy by 9.9% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 430,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,106,000 after buying an additional 38,856 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL grew its stake in Entergy by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 377,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,340,000 after purchasing an additional 7,837 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Entergy in the second quarter valued at about $623,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 10.6% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 23,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,483,000 after purchasing an additional 2,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 12.3% during the second quarter. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. now owns 8,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $890,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 3,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total value of $388,672.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,307,787.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Entergy news, COO Peter S. Norgeot, Jr. sold 11,472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.16, for a total value of $1,321,115.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,363,182.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 3,200 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total value of $388,672.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 150,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,307,787.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 42,888 shares of company stock valued at $5,110,766 in the last 90 days. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Entergy from $115.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Entergy from $135.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group increased their price target on Entergy from $143.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Entergy from $118.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $127.35.

Entergy Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE ETR opened at $129.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $27.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $118.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Entergy Co. has a 52-week low of $87.10 and a 52-week high of $129.70.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.16. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 14.75%. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Entergy Co. will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a $1.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 13th. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. Entergy’s payout ratio is currently 45.34%.

Entergy Profile

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.