Simon Quick Advisors LLC Buys 336 Shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,974 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vistra were worth $410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lionsbridge Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Vistra during the fourth quarter worth about $277,000. Empire Life Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vistra during the 3rd quarter valued at about $23,028,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in Vistra by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 78,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,361,000 after buying an additional 6,920 shares during the last quarter. Terra Nova Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vistra in the third quarter worth approximately $842,000. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Vistra by 12.4% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 69,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,296,000 after buying an additional 7,747 shares in the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Scott B. Helm sold 20,000 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.77, for a total value of $2,795,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 343,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,990,029.50. The trade was a 5.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen J. Muscato sold 207,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.34, for a total transaction of $33,413,514.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 318,287 shares in the company, valued at $51,352,424.58. This trade represents a 39.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 342,100 shares of company stock valued at $55,087,314 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VST. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Vistra in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $231.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Vistra from $151.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price objective on Vistra from $161.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Vistra from $105.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Vistra from $135.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Vistra presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.20.

Vistra Price Performance

VST stock opened at $191.70 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $155.22 and a 200 day moving average of $119.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.68, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $65.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.76, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.21. Vistra Corp. has a 1 year low of $39.13 and a 1 year high of $199.84.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $5.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $4.01. The company had revenue of $6.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.96 billion. Vistra had a return on equity of 57.63% and a net margin of 12.51%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Vistra Corp. will post 4.48 EPS for the current year.

Vistra announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, November 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 2.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 20th were given a dividend of $0.221 per share. This is a boost from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 20th. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.60%.

About Vistra

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.