Welch Group LLC Grows Stake in Entergy Corporation $ETR

Welch Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 251 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Entergy were worth $527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ETR. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 964.8% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,055,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $261,232,000 after buying an additional 2,768,734 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 5.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,828,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,687,331,000 after buying an additional 2,695,348 shares during the period. Alkeon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Entergy during the first quarter worth $194,429,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Entergy during the first quarter worth $123,648,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 285.5% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,133,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $96,901,000 after buying an additional 839,474 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on ETR. Mizuho set a $97.00 price objective on shares of Entergy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Entergy from $86.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Entergy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Entergy in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price for the company. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $96.00 target price (up from $88.00) on shares of Entergy in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Entergy

In other Entergy news, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 4,463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.50, for a total value of $403,901.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 3,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $300,279. This represents a 57.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Entergy stock opened at $95.19 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.72. The company has a market cap of $42.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.62. Entergy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $64.72 and a fifty-two week high of $98.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter. Entergy had a net margin of 14.35% and a return on equity of 11.52%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 13th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is 59.85%.

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.