Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) Given Average Rating of "Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Vistra Corp. has received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from 17 research firms, with an average 1-year price target of $229.31.
• The CEO sold over 43,000 shares at an average price of $208.75, reducing his ownership by 16.56% while insiders sold a total of 590,228 shares in recent months.
• Vistra recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.226, marking an increase from the previous dividend and representing an annual yield of 0.4%.

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Buy" by the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and four have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $229.3077.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Vistra from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Vistra in a research note on Thursday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $250.00 price target on the stock. Melius Research raised Vistra to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on Vistra from $207.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Vistra from $229.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd.

Insider Transactions at Vistra

In other Vistra news, CEO James A. Burke sold 43,074 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.75, for a total value of $8,991,697.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 217,025 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,303,968.75. The trade was a 16.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 590,228 shares of company stock worth $121,653,740 in the last three months. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vistra

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VST. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vistra by 4.0% in the second quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 1,734 shares of the company's stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Vistra by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the company's stock valued at $631,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Fogel Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vistra by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Fogel Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,897 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,531,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Vistra by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Red Mountain Financial LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the company's stock valued at $472,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Vistra by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,528 shares of the company's stock valued at $490,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.88% of the company's stock.

Vistra Price Performance

Shares of VST stock opened at $201.53 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.90. Vistra has a fifty-two week low of $90.51 and a fifty-two week high of $219.82. The firm has a market cap of $68.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.33. The business's 50 day moving average price is $200.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.32.

Vistra (NYSE:VST - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.62). Vistra had a net margin of 12.90% and a return on equity of 108.41%. The company had revenue of $4.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.15 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Vistra will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 19th were paid a $0.226 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 19th. This is a positive change from Vistra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Vistra's payout ratio is currently 14.35%.

About Vistra

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.