Jennison Associates LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)

Jennison Associates LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 5.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,403,986 shares of the company’s stock after selling 137,804 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.69% of Vistra worth $167,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Vistra by 8.2% during the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 22,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Vistra during the first quarter valued at $130,000. Mckinley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Vistra by 34.1% in the first quarter. Mckinley Capital Management LLC now owns 58,249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,057,000 after acquiring an additional 14,813 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Vistra by 186.6% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 327,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,806,000 after acquiring an additional 213,202 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Vistra by 12.8% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 182,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,733,000 after acquiring an additional 20,790 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VST shares. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Vistra from $85.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Vistra in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $82.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Vistra from $86.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Vistra from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Guggenheim raised shares of Vistra to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $87.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vistra news, Director Lisa Crutchfield acquired 335 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $89.46 per share, with a total value of $29,969.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 32,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,879,359.56. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Vistra Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of Vistra stock traded up $3.52 on Monday, hitting $92.88. 4,430,489 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,710,685. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $90.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.06. Vistra Corp. has a 52 week low of $26.06 and a 52 week high of $107.24. The company has a market cap of $32.27 billion, a PE ratio of 56.98 and a beta of 1.05.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.39). Vistra had a net margin of 5.66% and a return on equity of 24.72%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.81 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Vistra Corp. will post 3.95 EPS for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 19th were paid a $0.218 dividend. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.87 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. Vistra’s payout ratio is 53.37%.

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.