Vistra (NYSE:VST) Now Covered by Scotiabank

Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Vistra (NYSE:VST) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a sector outperform rating and a $256.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on VST. Morgan Stanley set a $207.00 price objective on shares of Vistra and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Melius started coverage on shares of Vistra in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Vistra in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating and a $216.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Vistra from $191.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Vistra from $207.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $213.73.

Vistra Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VST opened at $217.88 on Monday. Vistra has a 52 week low of $90.51 and a 52 week high of $219.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.75, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by ($0.62). Vistra had a return on equity of 108.41% and a net margin of 12.90%.The business had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.15 billion. On average, analysts expect that Vistra will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 19th will be given a dividend of $0.226 per share. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 19th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Vistra’s payout ratio is 14.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vistra news, CEO James A. Burke sold 43,074 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.75, for a total transaction of $8,991,697.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 217,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,303,968.75. This trade represents a 16.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 190,847 shares of company stock worth $39,921,480. Company insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Vistra by 25.5% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,966 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,544,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. WT Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Vistra in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $234,000. Reynders McVeigh Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vistra in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $262,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Vistra by 159.1% in the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 11,689 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,265,000 after buying an additional 7,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Vistra by 25.1% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 23,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,608,000 after buying an additional 4,776 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.