Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Purchases 122,668 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Free Report) by 120.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 224,891 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 122,668 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned about 0.05% of Entergy worth $17,051,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ETR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Entergy by 101.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,952,773,000 after buying an additional 26,312,267 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Entergy by 142.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 17,594,747 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,334,034,000 after buying an additional 10,347,926 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Entergy by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,884,421 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $976,895,000 after buying an additional 5,368,396 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Entergy by 90.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $956,273,000 after buying an additional 5,998,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its stake in shares of Entergy by 66.7% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 11,042,159 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $837,216,000 after buying an additional 4,418,528 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ETR shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Entergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Entergy from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Entergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $86.04.

Entergy Stock Performance

Shares of ETR stock traded up $1.28 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $83.10. 2,444,486 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,688,589. Entergy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $52.07 and a fifty-two week high of $88.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $83.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.22. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm 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 of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. Entergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.92%.

About Entergy

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.