StockNews.com Downgrades Entergy (NYSE:ETR) to Sell

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Friday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on ETR. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Entergy from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $143.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Entergy from $138.00 to $137.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $137.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $119.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.96.

Entergy Trading Down 6.5 %

Shares of Entergy stock opened at $144.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $117.23. Entergy has a 52-week low of $94.85 and a 52-week high of $156.85. The firm has a market cap of $30.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.71.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. Entergy had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 9.53%. The company had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Entergy will post 7.21 earnings per share for the current year.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total value of $388,672.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,307,787.26. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 3,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.46, for a total transaction of $388,672.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,731 shares in the company, valued at $18,307,787.26. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.03, for a total transaction of $72,018.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 150,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,092,241.93. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,810 shares of company stock valued at $6,140,626 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ETR. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Entergy by 0.4% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 511,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,071,000 after buying an additional 1,992 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in Entergy in the first quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 32.1% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,505 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 4.4% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 38,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,042,000 after purchasing an additional 1,634 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 49.3% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 238,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,208,000 after purchasing an additional 78,805 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.