Swiss National Bank Acquires 574,300 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 90.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,208,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 574,300 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Entergy were worth $91,591,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 107.0% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 66,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,014,000 after purchasing an additional 34,181 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Entergy by 95.9% in the fourth quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,747,000 after acquiring an additional 11,279 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC increased its stake in Entergy by 101.3% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in Entergy by 237.5% in the fourth quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 900,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $68,246,000 after acquiring an additional 633,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Entergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 88.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ETR shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp cut shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.11.

Entergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ETR opened at $85.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $36.59 billion, a PE ratio of 34.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $82.07 and its 200-day moving average is $74.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. Entergy Corporation has a 52 week low of $50.19 and a 52 week high of $88.38.

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. The business had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. Entergy’s payout ratio is 98.77%.

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.