Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 114.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 56,274 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,089 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $4,267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Entergy by 53.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,718,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $754,318,000 after buying an additional 1,981,611 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 139.5% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,423,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $183,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411,473 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Entergy by 105.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,748,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $208,416,000 after acquiring an additional 1,408,476 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Entergy by 60.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $472,444,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Entergy during the fourth quarter valued at about $101,133,000. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Entergy

In related news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total value of $450,146.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $292,210.88. This represents a 60.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE ETR opened at $82.70 on Thursday. Entergy Corporation has a 1 year low of $50.19 and a 1 year high of $88.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.59 billion, a PE ratio of 33.96, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $81.76 and its 200 day moving average is $73.87.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued 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 for 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 period last year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ETR has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 29th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.11.

Entergy Profile

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.