Vistra Corp. $VST Shares Acquired by Freemont Management S.A.

Freemont Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 30.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 17,900 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,200 shares during the period. Freemont Management S.A.’s holdings in Vistra were worth $3,469,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VST. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vistra by 594.6% during the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 6,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $727,000 after purchasing an additional 5,304 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Vistra by 29.1% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 255,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,021,000 after acquiring an additional 57,551 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vistra by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 98,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,551,000 after buying an additional 6,908 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of Vistra by 42.0% during the 1st quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 15,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,874,000 after buying an additional 4,717 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in shares of Vistra by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 41,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,900,000 after purchasing an additional 5,247 shares during the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vistra Trading Up 3.3%

VST stock opened at $190.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.90. Vistra Corp. has a 52 week low of $90.51 and a 52 week high of $219.82. The company has a market capitalization of $64.60 billion, a PE ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $199.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.29.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.78 by ($0.03). Vistra had a return on equity of 64.88% and a net margin of 6.70%.The firm had revenue of $4.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.60 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vistra Corp. will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 22nd will be paid a $0.227 dividend. This represents a $0.91 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 22nd. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is 14.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on VST. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Vistra from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Vistra in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Vistra in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vistra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Vistra from $236.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $234.21.

Insider Activity at Vistra

In related news, CEO James A. Burke sold 43,074 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.75, for a total transaction of $8,991,697.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 217,025 shares in the company, valued at $45,303,968.75. This represents a 16.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 723,910 shares of company stock worth $148,086,569. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Vistra

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.