BMO Capital Markets Has Lowered Expectations for Entergy (NYSE:ETR) Stock Price

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) had its price objective reduced by BMO Capital Markets from $166.00 to $159.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

ETR has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays increased their price objective on Entergy from $137.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Argus raised Entergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com raised Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Entergy from $137.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Entergy from $143.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Five investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $150.42.

Entergy Price Performance

ETR opened at $151.93 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $32.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $137.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $121.21. Entergy has a 12-month low of $96.15 and a 12-month high of $156.85.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $3.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 9.53%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Entergy will post 7.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a $1.20 dividend. This is an increase from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is 58.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Entergy news, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.03, for a total transaction of $72,018.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,092,241.93. This trade represents a 0.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 5,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $619,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $614,040. The trade was a 50.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 40,472 shares of company stock valued at $5,076,328. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Entergy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ETR. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Entergy by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,501,509,000 after purchasing an additional 128,667 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in Entergy by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 6,926,492 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $741,135,000 after purchasing an additional 763,834 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $870,422,000 after buying an additional 315,750 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 47.1% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 6,479,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $693,260,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075,776 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Entergy by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,965,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $651,206,000 after buying an additional 37,279 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

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.