Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) Shares Sold by Boston Partners

Boston Partners reduced its position in Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,787,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 297,483 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned about 1.32% of Entergy worth $271,440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Entergy by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 12,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 24.5% in the 2nd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 3,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 67.7% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $523,000 after acquiring an additional 2,170 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 37,279 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,559,000 after acquiring an additional 1,913 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 364,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,205 shares during the last quarter. 86.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ETR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays cut their target price on Entergy from $98.00 to $94.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 24th. UBS Group upgraded Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $103.00 to $118.00 in a report on Monday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Entergy from $124.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 17th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Entergy in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut Entergy from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $117.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.17.

Insider Transactions at Entergy

In other news, EVP Marcus V. Brown sold 13,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.40, for a total transaction of $1,287,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $882,545.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Stock Performance

Shares of ETR opened at $98.85 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.90 billion, a PE ratio of 14.20, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.67. Entergy Co. has a 1 year low of $87.10 and a 1 year high of $120.78.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $3.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $3.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.22 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 11.56%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.84 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Entergy Co. will post 6.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $1.13 per share. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 13th. This is a positive change from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.07. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.94%.

Entergy Company Profile

Entergy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and retail distribution of electricity in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Utility and Entergy Wholesale Commodities. The Utility segment 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.