LPL Financial LLC Sells 4,285 Shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)

LPL Financial LLC cut its holdings in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 102,314 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,285 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Vistra were worth $2,686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Vistra in the first quarter worth $29,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Vistra by 48.9% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vistra in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Vistra in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in shares of Vistra by 156.0% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 1,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 989 shares during the period. 91.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on VST shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Vistra from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Vistra from $31.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Vistra from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 21st.

Vistra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VST opened at $34.67 on Thursday. Vistra Corp. has a 1 year low of $21.18 and a 1 year high of $36.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company’s 50-day moving average is $32.87 and its 200 day moving average is $28.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.47 and a beta of 0.92.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.21. Vistra had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 22.75%. The company had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.78 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vistra Corp. will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 20th will be given a dividend of $0.213 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 19th. This represents a $0.85 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. This is a boost from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Vistra’s payout ratio is currently 23.22%.

Insider Activity at Vistra

In other Vistra news, EVP Stephanie Zapata Moore sold 122,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 137,782 shares in the company, valued at $4,211,995.74. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.