Waverly Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR - Free Report) by 244.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,103 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,462 shares during the quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC's holdings in Entergy were worth $690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ETR. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Entergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,953,000. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in Entergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,291,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in Entergy in the 4th quarter valued at $202,000. Vennlight Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Entergy during the fourth quarter valued at $11,255,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Entergy by 335.4% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 20,280 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,538,000 after buying an additional 15,622 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ETR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Entergy from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Entergy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $86.50 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $86.04.

Entergy Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of ETR stock traded up $0.49 on Thursday, hitting $82.30. 1,103,228 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,655,284. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.62. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $82.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.60. Entergy Corporation has a one year low of $52.07 and a one year 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 earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. Entergy's dividend payout ratio is currently 77.92%.

Entergy Company 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.