Vistra Corp. $VST Shares Purchased by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 4.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 609,867 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,235 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.18% of Vistra worth $118,198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Vistra in the second quarter valued at $930,080,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vistra in the 1st quarter worth about $209,149,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Vistra by 25.2% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,537,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $879,390,000 after purchasing an additional 913,350 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Vistra by 2,341.6% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 865,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,755,000 after purchasing an additional 830,111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Vistra by 203.0% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 277,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,692,000 after purchasing an additional 545,936 shares during the period. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Vistra from $237.00 to $243.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Melius initiated coverage on shares of Vistra in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Vistra in a report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $217.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price target (down from $241.00) on shares of Vistra in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Vistra in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Vistra currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.20.

Vistra Trading Down 5.0%

NYSE VST opened at $167.30 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $56.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.40, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $188.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $189.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.74. Vistra Corp. has a 52 week low of $90.51 and a 52 week high of $219.82.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.78 by ($0.03). Vistra had a return on equity of 64.04% and a net margin of 6.70%.The firm had revenue of $4.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.60 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Vistra Corp. will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.227 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 22nd. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.91 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Scott A. Hudson sold 56,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.86, for a total value of $9,456,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 306,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,772,476. This represents a 15.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Carrie Lee Kirby sold 58,275 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.75, for a total value of $10,183,556.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 218,239 shares in the company, valued at $38,137,265.25. This represents a 21.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 868,339 shares of company stock worth $173,242,584. 1.42% of the stock is currently 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 states in the United States and the District of Columbia.