Comerica Bank Purchases 38,527 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Comerica Bank increased its holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Free Report) by 66.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 96,644 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 38,527 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank's holdings in Entergy were worth $7,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ETR. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Entergy during the fourth quarter valued at $187,000. Utah Retirement Systems lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 100.6% in the 4th quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 70,646 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,356,000 after acquiring an additional 35,423 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 600.9% in the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 32,430 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,459,000 after acquiring an additional 27,803 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 61.7% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 635,099 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $48,153,000 after acquiring an additional 242,243 shares during the period. Finally, Electron Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Entergy by 67.9% in the fourth quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,019,310 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $77,284,000 after purchasing an additional 412,307 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Entergy Price Performance

Shares of ETR stock traded down $0.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $82.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 753,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,665,802. 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 quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $35.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.98, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.62. The firm's 50-day moving average is $83.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.48.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. Entergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.92%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ETR. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays upped their target price on Entergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Entergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $86.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.75.

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.