Jennison Associates LLC Trims Stock Position in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)

Jennison Associates LLC lowered its stake in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,541,790 shares of the company’s stock after selling 288,621 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Vistra were worth $97,910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Vistra by 19,070.8% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,566,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,426,000 after purchasing an additional 5,537,584 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Vistra by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,551,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,186,000 after buying an additional 597,875 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Vistra by 12.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,190,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,228,000 after acquiring an additional 575,799 shares during the last quarter. Third Point LLC grew its position in Vistra by 8.6% during the third quarter. Third Point LLC now owns 3,604,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,589,000 after acquiring an additional 285,652 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Vistra by 8.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,155,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,702,000 after acquiring an additional 257,264 shares during the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Vistra from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $78.00 price target on shares of Vistra in a research report on Monday, March 25th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Vistra from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of Vistra in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $82.00 target price on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vistra has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $67.20.

Vistra Stock Performance

Vistra stock opened at $66.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.20 billion, a PE ratio of 18.63 and a beta of 1.05. Vistra Corp. has a one year low of $22.67 and a one year high of $75.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $61.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.26, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.18.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.48) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($1.02). Vistra had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 10.10%. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.48 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vistra Corp. will post 3.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 20th were paid a $0.215 dividend. This is a boost from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 19th. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Vistra’s payout ratio is 24.02%.

Insider Activity at Vistra

In other Vistra news, EVP Stephanie Zapata Moore sold 98,020 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.50, for a total transaction of $5,734,170.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 161,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,470,448. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Vistra news, EVP Stephanie Zapata Moore sold 98,020 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.50, for a total transaction of $5,734,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 161,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,470,448. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Carrie Lee Kirby sold 72,748 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.63, for a total transaction of $4,556,207.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 184,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,536,508.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 257,285 shares of company stock valued at $15,404,397. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

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.