California State Teachers Retirement System Acquires 243,433 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Free Report) by 91.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 509,227 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 243,433 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.12% of Entergy worth $38,610,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Entergy by 60.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $472,444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354,355 shares during the last quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC acquired a new position in Entergy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $217,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Entergy by 280.9% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 9,468 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 6,982 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Entergy by 324.3% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 734 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Entergy by 275.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,176 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $696,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company's stock.

Entergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ETR traded up $0.84 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $83.20. 4,051,049 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,645,530. The firm has a market cap of $35.84 billion, a PE ratio of 34.17, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.62. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $82.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.75. Entergy Corporation has a 12 month low of $52.07 and a 12 month 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.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.60 dividend. 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 2.88%. Entergy's dividend payout ratio is 77.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ETR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised 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 raised 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, UBS Group raised their target price on Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Entergy has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $86.04.

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.