Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $86.25.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ETR shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Entergy from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Entergy in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Entergy from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st.

Entergy Stock Up 1.0%

ETR stock traded up $0.83 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $82.15. The company had a trading volume of 1,120,750 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,581,840. Entergy has a fifty-two week low of $52.07 and a fifty-two week high of $88.38. The company has a market capitalization of $35.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.78.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.22. Entergy had a net margin of 11.26% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Entergy will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Entergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.92%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Entergy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,828,994 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,687,331,000 after acquiring an additional 2,695,348 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Entergy by 142.8% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 10,347,926 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Entergy by 2.2% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,173,889 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,126,244,000 after purchasing an additional 289,468 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 5,998,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in Entergy by 66.7% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 11,042,159 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $837,216,000 after purchasing an additional 4,418,528 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company's stock.

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.