Entergy Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:ETR)

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 4,518 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 147% compared to the average daily volume of 1,826 put options.

Institutional Trading of Entergy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ETR. Fortis Group Advisors LLC grew its position in Entergy by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY grew its holdings in shares of Entergy by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Entergy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Entergy by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. now owns 358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Finally, Sandy Spring Bank lifted its position in Entergy by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 29th. KeyCorp cut shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Six equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.75.

Entergy Stock Performance

Shares of Entergy stock traded down $1.11 on Tuesday, reaching $82.90. The stock had a trading volume of 591,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,337,904. Entergy has a fifty-two week low of $50.19 and a fifty-two week high of $88.38. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $83.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $35.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Entergy will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s payout ratio is currently 98.77%.

Entergy Company 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.