Nicolet Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 100.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,396 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,703 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Entergy were worth $259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Entergy by 101.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,133,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,952,773,000 after buying an additional 26,312,267 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 106.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,236,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $774,103,000 after acquiring an additional 5,271,559 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake in shares of Entergy by 66.7% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 11,042,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $837,216,000 after purchasing an additional 4,418,528 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Entergy by 76.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,079,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $764,238,000 after purchasing an additional 4,360,772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Entergy by 105.1% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,363,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $558,279,000 after purchasing an additional 3,773,492 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on ETR. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Entergy from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Entergy from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Entergy from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.75.

Entergy Stock Down 7.1 %

ETR stock opened at $79.02 on Friday. Entergy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $50.19 and a fifty-two week high of $88.38. The company has a market capitalization of $34.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $83.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.68% and a net margin of 8.90%. The company had revenue of $2.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s payout ratio is currently 98.77%.

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.