Short Interest in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) Increases By 20.5%

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,470,000 shares, a growth of 20.5% from the May 15th total of 12,010,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days. Currently, 4.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vistra news, Director Lisa Crutchfield purchased 335 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $89.46 per share, for a total transaction of $29,969.10. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 32,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,879,359.56. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vistra

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VST. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Vistra by 142.2% during the 4th quarter. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC now owns 54,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,117,000 after purchasing an additional 32,276 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its holdings in Vistra by 90.4% in the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 327,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,867,000 after acquiring an additional 155,533 shares in the last quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Vistra during the 4th quarter valued at $773,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Vistra by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 145,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,617,000 after acquiring an additional 5,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vistra in the 4th quarter worth about $831,000. 90.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vistra Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of VST traded down $0.81 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $87.59. 3,728,443 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,971,596. Vistra has a 1-year low of $24.70 and a 1-year high of $107.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $84.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.06. The company has a market cap of $30.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.74 and a beta of 1.03.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.39). Vistra had a return on equity of 24.72% and a net margin of 5.66%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.81 billion. Research analysts expect that Vistra will post 3.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 19th will be paid a $0.218 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.87 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is 52.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VST has been the subject of several research reports. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on shares of Vistra in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $82.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Vistra from $72.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Vistra from $79.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Vistra from $86.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Vistra from $85.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $87.83.

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.