Entergy (NYSE:ETR) Upgraded to Buy at LADENBURG THALM/SH SH

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) was upgraded by investment analysts at LADENBURG THALM/SH SH from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Finviz reports. The firm currently has a $86.50 target price on the utilities provider’s stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH’s target price indicates a potential upside of 8.90% from the company’s current price.

ETR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Entergy from $68.50 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. KeyCorp lowered Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Entergy from $72.50 to $82.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Entergy from $68.50 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.81.

Entergy Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of Entergy stock opened at $79.43 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $34.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.34. Entergy has a 52-week low of $48.08 and a 52-week high of $84.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.04. Entergy had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 9.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.64 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Entergy will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Entergy

In other Entergy news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total transaction of $450,146.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,952 shares in the company, valued at $292,210.88. This represents a 60.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eliecer Viamontes sold 400 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total value of $29,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $613,431. The trade was a 4.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,756 shares of company stock valued at $1,095,637. 0.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Entergy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Entergy by 1.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,408,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,501,509,000 after purchasing an additional 128,667 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Entergy by 5.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,613,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $870,422,000 after buying an additional 315,750 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Entergy by 53.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,718,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $754,318,000 after buying an additional 1,981,611 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Entergy by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,965,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $651,206,000 after acquiring an additional 37,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Entergy by 60.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,589,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $472,444,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354,355 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

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.