Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $84.75.

ETR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp downgraded Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Entergy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Acropolis Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Entergy by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Acropolis Investment Management LLC now owns 8,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,163,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 0.9% in the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 8,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,065,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in Entergy by 1.3% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 7,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $952,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc increased its holdings in Entergy by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc now owns 668 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Hall Laurie J Trustee raised its position in Entergy by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Hall Laurie J Trustee now owns 450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Entergy Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Entergy stock opened at $84.04 on Tuesday. Entergy has a fifty-two week low of $50.19 and a fifty-two week high of $88.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $36.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a fifty day moving average of $83.04 and a 200 day moving average of $75.32.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Entergy will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.77%.

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.