Park Place Capital Corp Trims Position in Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR)

Park Place Capital Corp cut its holdings in shares of Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,017 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 474 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp’s holdings in Entergy were worth $397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 12.4% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 6,926,492 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $741,135,000 after buying an additional 763,834 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 47.1% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,479,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $693,260,000 after buying an additional 2,075,776 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 64.2% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,170,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $440,690,000 after buying an additional 1,630,057 shares during the period. ClearBridge Investments Ltd increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 0.6% during the second quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 3,137,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $335,671,000 after buying an additional 20,025 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 22.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 2,753,248 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $290,963,000 after buying an additional 505,705 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on ETR. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH restated a “neutral” rating and set a $109.50 price target (down from $117.00) on shares of Entergy in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Entergy from $115.00 to $119.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Argus upgraded Entergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays dropped their price target on Entergy from $138.00 to $137.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Entergy from $143.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.50.

Entergy Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ETR opened at $130.53 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $27.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Entergy Co. has a 1 year low of $90.78 and a 1 year high of $133.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $123.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $113.13.

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

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $1.13 per share. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 13th. Entergy’s payout ratio is currently 45.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total transaction of $388,672.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 150,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,307,787.26. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 3,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total transaction of $388,672.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 150,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,307,787.26. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Peter S. Norgeot, Jr. sold 11,472 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.16, for a total value of $1,321,115.52. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 37,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,363,182.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,810 shares of company stock valued at $6,140,626 over the last ninety days. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.