Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 116 Shares of Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) by 3.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Entergy were worth $491,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ETR. Bank & Trust Co raised its stake in Entergy by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC increased its stake in Entergy by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 5,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $786,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 4,075 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $341,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 1,858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. 88.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Entergy

In other news, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.00, for a total value of $29,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 4,173 shares in the company, valued at approximately $613,431. This trade represents a 4.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 4,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.03, for a total transaction of $616,090.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $300,444.48. This trade represents a 67.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 40,472 shares of company stock valued at $5,076,328. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Stock Up 1.4 %

ETR stock opened at $149.13 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $119.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. Entergy Co. has a 52 week low of $96.15 and a 52 week high of $156.85.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $2.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. Entergy had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 9.53%. The company had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.27 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Entergy Co. will post 7.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a $1.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This is an increase from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on ETR shares. Argus raised shares of Entergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $137.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $131.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $137.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $119.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Entergy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $150.96.

Entergy 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.