Vistra (NYSE:VST) Sets New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $99.00 to $137.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Vistra traded as high as $111.80 and last traded at $111.80, with a volume of 152512 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $107.88.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Vistra from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Vistra from $110.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $110.83.

Institutional Trading of Vistra

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vistra by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 3,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vistra by 16.8% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its stake in shares of Vistra by 38.6% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in shares of Vistra by 0.5% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 36,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,539,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vistra by 5.0% in the second quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $341,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Vistra Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company’s 50 day moving average is $81.19 and its 200 day moving average is $81.57. The stock has a market cap of $39.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.98 and a beta of 1.08.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.69). Vistra had a net margin of 4.61% and a return on equity of 21.05%. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Vistra Corp. will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.2195 per share. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 20th. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.37%.

About Vistra

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.