Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Vistra (NYSE:VST) Price Target to $234.00

Vistra (NYSE:VST) had its target price lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $236.00 to $234.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on VST. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Vistra from $230.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Vistra from $249.00 to $233.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Vistra in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $217.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Vistra in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Evercore lifted their target price on shares of Vistra from $237.00 to $243.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.60.

Vistra Stock Down 1.9%

VST opened at $173.42 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $163.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $180.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.92, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.42. Vistra has a fifty-two week low of $90.51 and a fifty-two week high of $219.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.74, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $4.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.75 billion. Vistra had a net margin of 5.32% and a return on equity of 82.27%. On average, research analysts expect that Vistra will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.228 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.91 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Vistra’s payout ratio is currently 32.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vistra

In other news, CEO James A. Burke sold 22,251 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.05, for a total value of $3,605,774.55. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 297,998 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,290,575.90. This trade represents a 6.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vistra

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Vistra in the second quarter valued at approximately $930,080,000. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in Vistra during the fourth quarter worth approximately $574,499,000. Rubric Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Vistra during the fourth quarter worth $322,660,000. Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Vistra by 280.6% in the 2nd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,356,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,876,000 after buying an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Vistra by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,106,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,392,299,000 after buying an additional 930,912 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Key Vistra News

Here are the key news stories impacting Vistra this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Operational beat and AI-driven demand — Vistra said core profit beat estimates, citing stronger power demand driven in part by AI-related loads; this supports the company’s earnings power and growth thesis. Vistra beats quarterly core profit estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Record 2025 operating results and constructive 2026 guidance — Vistra reported Ongoing Operations Adjusted EBITDA of ~$5.91B and strong adjusted free cash flow, and its 2026 guidance was presented as reinforcing a multi‑year growth path, which underpins longer‑term valuation. Press Release
• Positive Sentiment: Fleet expansion improves market positioning — Announcements about expanding Vistra’s dispatchable fleet should boost its exposure to power market upside and demand from data centers and other large users. Fleet expansion article
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst view unchanged despite trim — Wells Fargo trimmed its price target slightly from $236 to $234 but kept an “overweight” rating, implying meaningful upside; the small target cut is a mild signal but not a rating downgrade. Benzinga
• Neutral Sentiment: More color available — Earnings call transcript, slides and multiple analyst write-ups (Zacks, Seeking Alpha, Yahoo/Fool) provide detail for investors to parse operational vs. accounting impacts. Zacks Q4 metrics
• Negative Sentiment: GAAP earnings and revenue misses; large unrealized hedge losses — The quarter showed a sizable EPS and revenue miss against some street estimates, and an $808M non‑cash unrealized commodity hedging loss depressed GAAP results, which likely pressured the stock. Press Release / Slide Deck
• Negative Sentiment: Relative performance concerns — Analyst comparisons (e.g., Zacks piece contrasting VST vs. NRG) note peers may offer stronger ROE, yield or recent performance, which can shift investor preference within the utility/power space. VST vs NRG

Vistra Company Profile

Vistra (NYSE: VST) is an integrated power company that develops, owns and operates electricity generation and retail businesses in the United States. The company’s operations span wholesale power production—through a diversified fleet of thermal and lower‑carbon generation assets—and retail electricity supply to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Vistra serves organized wholesale markets and competitive retail markets, with a notable presence in Texas and other regional U.S. power markets.

Vistra’s core activities include the ownership and operation of generation facilities, the commercial dispatch and optimization of those assets into wholesale markets, and the sale of electricity and related services to end-use customers through its retail brands.