Entergy Corporation $ETR is Ausbil Investment Management Ltd’s 6th Largest Position

Ausbil Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,567 shares during the period. Entergy makes up 3.8% of Ausbil Investment Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Entergy were worth $7,008,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Entergy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $468,628,000. Boston Partners lifted its position in Entergy by 114.9% during the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,940,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $578,531,000 after purchasing an additional 3,710,814 shares during the period. Alkeon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Entergy in the first quarter worth approximately $194,429,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Entergy by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,459,668 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,692,928,000 after purchasing an additional 1,630,674 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Entergy by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,920,881 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,905,184,000 after buying an additional 981,750 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ETR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised their price target on Entergy from $88.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley set a $91.00 price target on Entergy in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $105.00 price target (up previously from $96.00) on shares of Entergy in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Entergy from $113.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Entergy in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Entergy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Entergy news, Director Ralph Lewis Ropp acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $96.69 per share, for a total transaction of $96,690.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,524.50. This trade represents a 2,000.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 5,136 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.50, for a total value of $495,624.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $762,253.50. This represents a 39.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 10,179 shares of company stock valued at $981,707 in the last quarter. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Entergy Stock Performance

NYSE ETR opened at $92.19 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. Entergy Corporation has a twelve month low of $73.43 and a twelve month high of $98.58. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $95.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.94. The firm has a market cap of $41.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.62.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Entergy had a return on equity of 11.53% and a net margin of 14.26%.The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 13th. This is a positive change from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.21%.

Entergy Profile

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.