Advisors Asset Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 8.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 39,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,106 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $5,200,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ETR. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in Entergy by 21.7% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in Entergy by 37.7% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 4,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $442,000 after purchasing an additional 1,146 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Entergy by 55.4% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 14,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 5,303 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new position in Entergy during the first quarter worth about $291,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Entergy by 15.9% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Trading Up 0.8 %

ETR stock opened at $151.93 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.57 billion, a PE ratio of 18.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.71. Entergy Corporation has a one year low of $96.15 and a one year high of $156.85. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $137.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $121.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $2.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 9.53%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 7.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a $1.20 dividend. This represents a $4.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. This is an increase from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. Entergy’s payout ratio is presently 58.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on ETR. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $137.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Entergy from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lowered shares of Entergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $138.00 to $154.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Entergy from $166.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Entergy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Entergy news, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 5,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $619,920.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $614,040. The trade was a 50.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Andrew S. Marsh sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.03, for a total transaction of $72,018.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,731 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,092,241.93. The trade was a 0.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,472 shares of company stock valued at $5,076,328 over the last three months. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Entergy

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.