Morgan Stanley Increases Vistra (NYSE:VST) Price Target to $132.00

Vistra (NYSE:VST) had its target price hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $110.00 to $132.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on VST. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Vistra in a research note on Friday, September 13th. They set a buy rating and a $99.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Vistra from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $110.83.

Vistra Trading Down 4.1 %

NYSE VST opened at $114.21 on Monday. Vistra has a one year low of $31.16 and a one year high of $122.01. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $82.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.07 and a beta of 1.08.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Vistra will post 4.7 EPS for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 20th will be paid a $0.2195 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 20th. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Vistra’s payout ratio is 53.99%.

Institutional Trading of Vistra

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Centaurus Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vistra in the second quarter worth $108,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in Vistra by 34.6% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 68,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,850,000 after purchasing an additional 17,502 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Vistra in the second quarter worth $69,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Vistra in the second quarter worth $7,829,000. Finally, Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Vistra in the second quarter worth $297,000. Institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

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.