Vistra Corp. $VST Position Boosted by Shell Asset Management Co.

Shell Asset Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST - Free Report) by 45.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,160 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,728 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.'s holdings in Vistra were worth $2,938,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in VST. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vistra during the 1st quarter valued at about $124,000. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Vistra during the 1st quarter valued at about $583,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Vistra by 26.6% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 6,066 shares of the company's stock valued at $712,000 after purchasing an additional 1,273 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Vistra by 45.1% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,303 shares of the company's stock valued at $153,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in shares of Vistra by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,632 shares of the company's stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 682 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.88% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on VST shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Vistra from $207.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Vistra from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Vistra from $227.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Vistra in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set a "strong-buy" rating and a $216.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Vistra to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $227.85.

Vistra Stock Down 0.4%

Vistra stock opened at $199.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $67.65 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $200.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $171.29. Vistra Corp. has a twelve month low of $90.51 and a twelve month high of $219.82.

Vistra (NYSE:VST - Get Free Report) last released 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). The company 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Vistra Corp. will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.226 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 payout ratio is 14.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James A. Burke sold 43,074 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.75, for a total transaction of $8,991,697.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 217,025 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,303,968.75. This trade represents a 16.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 379,645 shares of company stock worth $78,263,666 over the last 90 days. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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