BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC Boosts Position in Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR)

BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC increased its stake in Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR – Get Rating) by 10.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 181,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,505 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC owned 0.09% of Entergy worth $18,282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Entergy by 2.7% in the first quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 15.5% in the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 739 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Intrua Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Entergy by 2.5% during the second quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 4,058 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in Entergy by 2.5% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Entergy by 4.2% during the third quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 89.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. TheStreet cut Entergy from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. Bank of America cut Entergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $135.00 to $119.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Entergy from $123.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Entergy from $114.00 to $113.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Entergy from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Marcus V. Brown sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total transaction of $1,326,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,129 shares in the company, valued at $968,586.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.96, for a total transaction of $31,188.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,845.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Marcus V. Brown sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total value of $1,326,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $968,586.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,092 shares of company stock valued at $1,821,838. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Entergy Price Performance

Shares of ETR stock opened at $103.69 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $106.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $21.92 billion, a PE ratio of 19.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.63. Entergy Co. has a 12 month low of $94.94 and a 12 month high of $126.82.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.65 billion. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 8.01%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. Analysts predict that Entergy Co. will post 6.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 10th were issued a $1.07 dividend. This represents a $4.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 9th. Entergy’s payout ratio is currently 79.41%.

About Entergy

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Entergy Corp. is a holding company, which engages in electric power generation and distribution. It operates through the following segments: Utility and Entergy Wholesale Commodities. The Utility segment includes the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electric power and the operations of a natural gas distribution business.