HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 2,561 Shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 2.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 127,310 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,561 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vistra were worth $3,052,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vistra by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 47,604,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,106,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023,500 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vistra by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 23,939,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,597,000 after buying an additional 534,299 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of Vistra by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 8,851,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,445,000 after buying an additional 300,300 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Vistra by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,999,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,990,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in Vistra by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 5,128,583 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,111,000 after acquiring an additional 81,667 shares in the last quarter. 91.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on VST shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Vistra from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 23rd. TheStreet upgraded Vistra from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Monday, July 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Vistra from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 10th.

Vistra Stock Performance

Shares of VST opened at $33.37 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.12 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.82. Vistra Corp. has a 12 month low of $20.76 and a 12 month high of $33.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 9th. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.21. Vistra had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 22.75%. The firm had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.78 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Vistra Corp. will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 20th will be issued a $0.206 dividend. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 19th. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vistra news, Director Julie A. Lagacy acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 21st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.84 per share, for a total transaction of $248,400.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 16,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $420,367.32. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Julie A. Lagacy acquired 10,000 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 21st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $24.84 per share, for a total transaction of $248,400.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 16,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $420,367.32. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Stephanie Zapata Moore sold 122,662 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction on Friday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.57, for a total value of $3,749,777.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 137,782 shares in the company, valued at $4,211,995.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.36% of the company’s stock.

Vistra 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 20 states in the United States and the District of Columbia.