Bank of America Corp DE Acquires 10,347,926 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Free Report) by 142.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,594,747 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 10,347,926 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned 4.10% of Entergy worth $1,334,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 101.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,952,773,000 after buying an additional 26,312,267 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Entergy by 90.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $956,273,000 after acquiring an additional 5,998,760 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Entergy by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,884,421 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $976,895,000 after purchasing an additional 5,368,396 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Entergy by 106.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,236,816 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $774,103,000 after purchasing an additional 5,271,559 shares during the period. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in Entergy by 66.7% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 11,042,159 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $837,216,000 after purchasing an additional 4,418,528 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Entergy from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Entergy in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Entergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $86.50 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.75.

Entergy Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of Entergy stock opened at $84.47 on Monday. Entergy Corporation has a 1 year low of $52.07 and a 1 year high of $88.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50-day moving average of $83.33 and a 200 day moving average of $79.18. The firm has a market cap of $36.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.69, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.62.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. Entergy's payout ratio is presently 77.92%.

Entergy Company 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.

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