Vistra (NYSE:VST) Stock Price Up 2.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)’s share price shot up 2.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $110.00 to $132.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Vistra traded as high as $115.57 and last traded at $114.20. 2,848,897 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 6,666,592 shares. The stock had previously closed at $111.63.

VST has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Vistra in a report on Friday, September 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $99.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Vistra from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vistra currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $104.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vistra

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in Vistra in the fourth quarter valued at $203,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Vistra in the fourth quarter worth about $77,523,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Vistra by 89.2% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 10,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 4,772 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Vistra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. bought a new position in Vistra during the 4th quarter worth approximately $510,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Vistra Trading Up 2.3 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The company has a market cap of $39.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.06 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $80.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.20.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.69). Vistra had a net margin of 4.61% and a return on equity of 21.05%. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vistra Corp. will post 4.52 EPS for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.2195 per share. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is 53.37%.

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.