Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Invests $2 Million in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 23,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,004,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Castle Hook Partners LP grew its position in shares of Vistra by 470.0% during the 1st quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 3,769,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,569,000 after acquiring an additional 3,108,511 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Vistra by 9,668.5% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,940,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,015 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Vistra in the fourth quarter worth $77,523,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Vistra by 468.2% in the fourth quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,128,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,006,000 after buying an additional 1,754,223 shares during the period. Finally, Third Point LLC lifted its position in shares of Vistra by 27.6% during the 4th quarter. Third Point LLC now owns 4,600,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $177,192,000 after buying an additional 995,748 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Vistra from $109.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vistra has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.83.

Vistra Stock Up 5.2 %

VST stock opened at $80.06 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.89. Vistra Corp. has a twelve month low of $31.16 and a twelve month high of $107.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.51 billion, a PE ratio of 49.12 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.69). Vistra had a net margin of 4.61% and a return on equity of 21.05%. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Vistra Corp. will post 4.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 20th will be issued a $0.2195 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. This is a boost from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.37%.

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.