Vistra (NYSE:VST) Stock Price Up 6.4% After Analyst Upgrade

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) shares were up 6.4% during trading on Thursday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $105.00 to $141.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Vistra traded as high as $133.93 and last traded at $133.39. Approximately 4,641,272 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 32% from the average daily volume of 6,793,729 shares. The stock had previously closed at $125.37.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on VST. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Vistra from $99.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Vistra from $110.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Vistra from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Vistra presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $118.14.

Institutional Trading of Vistra

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Vistra by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 30,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 6,063 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Vistra by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 71,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,744,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR raised its position in Vistra by 633.7% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 58,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,260,000 after acquiring an additional 50,672 shares during the period. Prudential PLC purchased a new position in Vistra during the fourth quarter valued at $3,276,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in Vistra by 6,527.3% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 516,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,879,000 after purchasing an additional 508,278 shares in the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vistra Trading Up 4.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $47.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.89 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $87.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.23. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.69). Vistra had a return on equity of 21.05% and a net margin of 4.61%. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Vistra Corp. will post 4.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 20th were issued a dividend of $0.2195 per share. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.99%.

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.