Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.22 Per Share

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 19th will be given a dividend of 0.218 per share on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.87 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22.

Vistra has increased its dividend payment by an average of 15.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 5 consecutive years. Vistra has a dividend payout ratio of 17.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Vistra to earn $4.08 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.86 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.1%.

Vistra Stock Up 2.0 %

VST traded up $1.62 during trading on Friday, hitting $81.49. The company had a trading volume of 5,588,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,651,998. Vistra has a 1-year low of $22.69 and a 1-year high of $83.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.26, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $28.35 billion, a PE ratio of 22.76 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50-day moving average of $66.79 and a 200-day moving average of $48.06.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.48) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($1.02). The company had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.48 billion. Vistra had a net margin of 10.10% and a return on equity of 20.05%. As a group, analysts forecast that Vistra will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Scott A. Hudson sold 86,517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.11, for a total transaction of $5,114,019.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 254,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,069,030.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Vistra news, EVP Scott A. Hudson sold 86,517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.11, for a total transaction of $5,114,019.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 254,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,069,030.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Carrie Lee Kirby sold 72,748 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.63, for a total transaction of $4,556,207.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 184,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,536,508.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 257,285 shares of company stock worth $15,404,397 in the last three months. 1.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.