Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. Buys 12,570 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 103.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 24,779 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,570 shares during the period. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $1,879,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fortis Group Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Entergy during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. now owns 358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Entergy

In other Entergy news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total value of $450,146.72. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,210.88. This represents a 60.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Entergy Price Performance

NYSE ETR opened at $81.23 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $81.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.50. Entergy Corporation has a 1 year low of $50.19 and a 1 year high of $88.38. The company has a market cap of $34.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.36, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. The firm had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s payout ratio is 98.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ETR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 29th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Six equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.14.

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.