Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 116 Shares of Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) by 3.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Entergy were worth $491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Entergy by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in Entergy by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 40,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,246,000 after acquiring an additional 2,273 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in Entergy by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 60,357 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,379,000 after acquiring an additional 8,596 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Entergy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in shares of Entergy by 37.7% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 4,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 1,146 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Price Performance

Entergy stock opened at $149.13 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.16, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.71. Entergy Co. has a one year low of $96.15 and a one year high of $156.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $134.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $119.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

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

Entergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. This is a positive change from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. Entergy’s payout ratio is 58.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Argus raised shares of Entergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Entergy from $137.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $137.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $150.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 600 shares of the business’s 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 in the company, valued at $18,092,241.93. The trade was a 0.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 5,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $619,920.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $614,040. This represents a 50.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,472 shares of company stock valued at $5,076,328 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.