Mather Group LLC. Lowers Stock Position in Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR)

Mather Group LLC. lowered its position in shares of Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 326 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 1.2% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 38,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,537,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 14,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,492,000 after acquiring an additional 1,989 shares in the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 595,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,273,000 after acquiring an additional 9,696 shares in the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 159,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,129,000 after acquiring an additional 35,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 464.4% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 12,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after acquiring an additional 9,910 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Entergy from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Entergy from $111.00 to $104.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays reduced their price objective on Entergy from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Entergy from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $117.00 price objective on shares of Entergy in a report on Monday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Entergy Stock Performance

Shares of Entergy stock opened at $106.98 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $103.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.99. The company has a market capitalization of $22.81 billion, a PE ratio of 10.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Entergy Co. has a 52 week low of $87.10 and a 52 week high of $108.45.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $31.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. Entergy’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Entergy Co. will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $1.13 per share. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 1st. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.34%.

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.