Wintrust Investments LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Wintrust Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 98.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 516 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Wintrust Investments LLC’s holdings in Entergy were worth $39,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vestcor Inc raised its holdings in shares of Entergy by 191.3% during the fourth quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 17,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 11,389 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Entergy by 90.6% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,208,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $91,591,000 after purchasing an additional 574,300 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Entergy by 107.0% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 66,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,014,000 after buying an additional 34,181 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Entergy by 95.9% during the fourth quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,747,000 after buying an additional 11,279 shares during the period. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC grew its position in Entergy by 101.3% during the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the period. 88.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 29th. Six 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 company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.11.

Entergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ETR opened at $82.85 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $81.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.94. Entergy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $50.19 and a fifty-two week high of $88.38. The firm has a market cap of $35.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.03, a P/E/G 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s payout ratio is 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.