Nuveen Asset Management LLC Purchases 617,536 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Free Report) by 83.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,356,834 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 617,536 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned about 0.32% of Entergy worth $102,875,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Entergy by 101.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,952,773,000 after purchasing an additional 26,312,267 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,334,034,000 after purchasing an additional 10,347,926 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 71.4% in the fourth 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. FMR LLC increased its stake in Entergy by 90.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,612,407 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $956,273,000 after acquiring an additional 5,998,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring 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 Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ETR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Entergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Entergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $86.50 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Entergy from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $86.04.

Entergy Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of ETR stock traded up $1.25 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $84.26. 3,736,909 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,684,009. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $83.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.23. Entergy Corporation has a 12-month low of $52.07 and a 12-month high of $88.38. The stock has a market cap of $36.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.60, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.62. 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 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. 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 analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Entergy's payout ratio is 77.92%.

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.