abrdn plc Buys 51,776 Shares of Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR)

abrdn plc lifted its stake in shares of Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) by 84.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 113,251 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 51,776 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Entergy were worth $11,460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ETR. Greenleaf Trust lifted its position in Entergy by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $500,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its position in Entergy by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 50,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,134,000 after acquiring an additional 1,817 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Entergy by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,904,933 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $293,950,000 after acquiring an additional 258,806 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Entergy by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Entergy by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 63,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,466,000 after acquiring an additional 10,760 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ETR shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Entergy from $111.00 to $104.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Entergy from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Entergy from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $117.00 target price on shares of Entergy in a research report on Monday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.45.

Entergy Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of ETR stock opened at $107.53 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $103.28 and a 200-day moving average of $100.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Entergy Co. has a 12-month low of $87.10 and a 12-month high of $108.97. The firm has a market cap of $22.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.71.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($0.36). Entergy had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 17.75%. The company had revenue of $31.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Entergy Co. will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 2nd will be paid a $1.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 1st. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.20%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is 45.34%.

Insider Activity at Entergy

In related news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 1,500 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.23, for a total value of $151,845.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $348,433.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 1,500 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.23, for a total value of $151,845.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $348,433.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Marcus V. Brown sold 8,500 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.84, for a total transaction of $874,140.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,019,247.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,000 shares of company stock worth $1,226,685. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.