Entergy (NYSE:ETR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Entergy from “sell” to “hold.” Analysts overall remain positive: MarketBeat reports a “Moderate Buy” consensus and a $121.57 average price target.
• Entergy beat quarterly expectations, reporting earnings of $1.98 per share versus $1.73 expected and revenue of $4.37 billion versus $4.12 billion expected.
• Shares opened at $110.42, while analyst price-target revisions were mixed: some firms raised targets and others lowered them.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $112.00 to $115.00 in a report on Monday, July 27th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Entergy from $129.00 to $121.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Entergy from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $115.00 target price (down from $128.00) on shares of Entergy in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $121.57.

Entergy Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Entergy stock opened at $110.42 on Friday. Entergy has a 12-month low of $90.87 and a 12-month high of $118.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $104.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $107.68. The stock has a market cap of $51.53 billion, a PE ratio of 25.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.44.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.25. Entergy had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 14.63%. The business had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Entergy will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Entergy news, insider Laura Landreaux sold 5,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.20, for a total value of $594,720.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 22,589 shares in the company, valued at $2,398,951.80. This represents a 19.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Entergy

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ETR. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Entergy in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,861,376,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Entergy by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 17,369,775 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,951,668,000 after buying an additional 870,847 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new stake in Entergy in the second quarter valued at $633,338,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Entergy by 4.3% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,941,157 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $452,681,000 after acquiring an additional 161,411 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Entergy during the second quarter valued at about $430,404,000. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company's stock.

About Entergy

Entergy Corporation is an investor-owned energy company headquartered in New Orleans. Its primary business is providing regulated electric utility service to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Through its utility subsidiaries, Entergy serves communities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Its operations include generating, transmitting and distributing electricity, with power produced from a mix of sources that includes nuclear energy.

The company traces its corporate history to Middle South Utilities, which adopted the Entergy name in 1989.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.