Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) Position Cut by Public Sector Pension Investment Board

Key Points

• Public Sector Pension Investment Board reduced its stake in Vistra Corp. by 58.5%, selling over 128,000 shares, which decreased its holdings to about $10.68 million.
• Vistra announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.226 per share, marking a raise from $0.23, with the next payment scheduled for September 30th.
• Several analysts upgraded their price targets for Vistra, with UBS raising it to $230 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" among analysts, highlighting a positive outlook for the stock.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lessened its holdings in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST - Free Report) by 58.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 90,943 shares of the company's stock after selling 128,058 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board's holdings in Vistra were worth $10,680,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Vistra by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,026,484 shares of the company's stock valued at $417,261,000 after buying an additional 296,714 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP raised its position in Vistra by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,964,222 shares of the company's stock valued at $408,677,000 after buying an additional 353,949 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Vistra by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,206,046 shares of the company's stock worth $304,148,000 after purchasing an additional 106,803 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors acquired a new position in Vistra in the 4th quarter worth about $286,414,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Vistra by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,072,045 shares of the company's stock worth $285,674,000 after purchasing an additional 132,530 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Vistra from $178.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. 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. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $229.00 price target (up previously from $191.00) on shares of Vistra in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Vistra from $179.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Vistra from $207.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Three equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $192.62.

Vistra Trading Down 1.9%

VST stock opened at $205.48 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $190.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $156.67. Vistra Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $72.90 and a fifty-two week high of $216.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Vistra (NYSE:VST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.62). The firm had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. Vistra had a net margin of 12.90% and a return on equity of 108.41%. Analysts expect that Vistra Corp. will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 19th will be given a dividend of $0.226 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 19th. This is an increase from Vistra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Vistra's dividend payout ratio is presently 14.35%.

Insider Activity at Vistra

In other news, Director Scott B. Helm sold 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 255,192 shares in the company, valued at $44,084,418. The trade was a 16.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John R. Sult sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,037,649.82. The trade was a 24.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 294,000 shares of company stock valued at $47,461,490 over the last quarter. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Vistra Company 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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