Entergy (NYSE:ETR) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

07 Nov 2024, 11:44 by Kim Johansen · The Markets Daily

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Entergy (NYSE:ETR – Free Report) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report issued on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $150.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $116.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Entergy from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com cut Entergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Entergy from $137.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on Entergy from $143.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Entergy from $131.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $150.96.

Read Our Latest Analysis on ETR

Entergy Stock Performance

ETR opened at $146.06 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $31.32 billion, a PE ratio of 17.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. Entergy has a 1 year low of $94.85 and a 1 year high of $156.85. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.08.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 14.83%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Entergy will post 7.21 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This is a positive change from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is 55.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.03, for a total transaction of $72,018.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 150,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,092,241.93. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.03, for a total transaction of $72,018.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 150,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,092,241.93. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 19,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.35, for a total value of $2,310,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,731 shares in the company, valued at $18,140,475.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,138 shares of company stock valued at $4,430,838 over the last 90 days. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Entergy

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Entergy in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Heritage Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in Entergy by 2,172.7% in the first quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the period. Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new position in Entergy in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Entergy by 423.8% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, American National Bank lifted its stake in Entergy by 93.7% in the second quarter. American National Bank now owns 277 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

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