Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 310,163 Shares of Vistra Corp. $VST

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD sold 310,163 shares of Vistra Corp., reducing its stake by 15% to approximately 1.76 million shares, valued at about $206.9 million.
• Directors Scott B. Helm and John R. Sult sold significant amounts of company stock, reducing their ownership stakes by 16.38% and 24.77% respectively.
• Vistra Corp. has recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.226 per share, reflecting an increase from the previous $0.23 dividend, with a payout ratio of 14.35%.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD cut its stake in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST - Free Report) by 15.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,761,882 shares of the company's stock after selling 310,163 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.52% of Vistra worth $206,916,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VST. HM Payson & Co. grew its stake in Vistra by 275.4% in the first quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 229 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in Vistra in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Keener Financial Planning LLC acquired a new position in Vistra in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in Vistra in the first quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Vistra in the first quarter valued at about $46,000. 90.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Scott B. Helm sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.75, for a total transaction of $8,637,500.00. Following the sale, the director owned 255,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,084,418. This represents a 16.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John R. Sult sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.67, for a total value of $4,291,750.00. Following the sale, the director owned 75,946 shares in the company, valued at $13,037,649.82. The trade was a 24.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 110,000 shares of company stock worth $18,579,650. Corporate insiders own 1.42% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VST shares. Melius Research raised Vistra to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Vistra from $179.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI set a $192.00 target price on Vistra and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Vistra from $207.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Melius initiated coverage on Vistra in a research report on Wednesday. They set a "buy" rating and a $295.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.93.

Vistra Stock Up 0.0%

VST stock opened at $190.2960 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50-day moving average of $194.24 and a 200-day moving average of $158.25. Vistra Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $72.90 and a fifty-two week high of $216.85.

Vistra (NYSE:VST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.62). Vistra had a return on equity of 108.41% and a net margin of 12.90%.The firm had revenue of $4.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vistra Corp. will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.226 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 19th. This is a boost from Vistra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Vistra's dividend payout ratio is currently 14.35%.

Vistra Profile

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.

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