Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Reduces Position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Free Report) by 29.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 192,105 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 80,489 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Entergy were worth $16,423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ETR. NBT Bank N A NY lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 340 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. now owns 358 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 358 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Entergy by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Glen Eagle Advisors LLC now owns 360 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Riverview Trust Co increased its stake in Entergy by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 364 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on ETR shares. UBS Group raised their price target on Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Entergy from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Entergy from $89.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Entergy from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Six research 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $86.25.

Entergy Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of ETR traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $82.50. 3,221,418 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,588,391. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. Entergy Corporation has a 1-year low of $52.07 and a 1-year high of $88.38. The company has a market cap of $35.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $82.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.50.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.22. Entergy had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 11.26%. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. Research analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. 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.