22,800 Shares in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) Acquired by Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 22,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,001,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 145.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 24,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,551,000 after buying an additional 14,293 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Entergy by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 986,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,840,000 after acquiring an additional 174,093 shares during the last quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in Entergy by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 97,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,795,000 after purchasing an additional 9,986 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 19.3% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 28,498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,049,000 after purchasing an additional 4,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Entergy by 4.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 280,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,885,000 after purchasing an additional 10,697 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ETR shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Entergy from $166.00 to $159.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Entergy from $137.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Entergy from $143.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $150.42.

Insider Activity 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 4,173 shares in the company, valued at approximately $613,431. This trade represents a 4.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 4,134 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now owns 2,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $300,444.48. The trade was a 67.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 40,472 shares of company stock worth $5,076,328. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Price Performance

ETR opened at $151.06 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $32.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.40, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $137.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $121.50. Entergy Corporation has a 12-month low of $96.15 and a 12-month high of $156.85.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $2.99 EPS 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 business had revenue of $3.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 7.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $1.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. This is a positive change from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.13. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.47%.

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.