Insider Selling: Vistra (NYSE:VST) CEO Sells $3,818,661.90 in Stock

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) CEO James Burke sold 19,605 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.78, for a total value of $3,818,661.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 253,815 shares in the company, valued at $49,438,085.70. This trade represents a 7.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Vistra Stock Performance

VST opened at $202.25 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $200.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $170.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58. Vistra Corp. has a 12-month low of $90.51 and a 12-month high of $219.82.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.62). The business had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. Vistra had a net margin of 12.90% and a return on equity of 108.41%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vistra Corp. will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 19th were issued a $0.226 dividend. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 19th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Vistra’s payout ratio is 14.35%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vistra

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in shares of Vistra by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 73,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,680,000 after buying an additional 1,387 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Vistra in the 1st quarter valued at $341,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new position in Vistra in the 1st quarter valued at $432,000. Peak Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Vistra in the 2nd quarter valued at $547,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Vistra by 29.1% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 255,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,021,000 after purchasing an additional 57,551 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Vistra from $227.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Scotiabank began coverage on Vistra in a report on Monday, September 22nd. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $256.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Vistra from $207.00 to $223.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Vistra from $207.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Melius Research raised Vistra to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $224.21.

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.