Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. Sells 6,600 Shares of Entergy Corporation $ETR

Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. lowered its position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 212,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,600 shares during the period. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $19,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Entergy in the second quarter worth $468,628,000. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 114.9% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,940,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $578,531,000 after buying an additional 3,710,814 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,459,668 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,692,928,000 after buying an additional 1,630,674 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Entergy by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,920,881 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,905,184,000 after buying an additional 981,750 shares during the period. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 285.5% in the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,133,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $96,901,000 after acquiring an additional 839,474 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ETR has been the topic of several research reports. Argus set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Entergy and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Entergy to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. KeyCorp set a $102.00 price target on Entergy and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Entergy from $91.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $104.00 target price (up from $96.00) on shares of Entergy in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.91.

Entergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ETR opened at $93.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $41.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.04, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.66. Entergy Corporation has a twelve month low of $75.04 and a twelve month high of $98.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $94.28 and a 200 day moving average of $91.04.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter. Entergy had a return on equity of 11.53% and a net margin of 14.26%.The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter. As a group, research analysts expect that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were given a $0.64 dividend. This is a positive change from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 13th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Entergy’s payout ratio is presently 63.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Entergy

In related news, Director Ralph Lewis Ropp acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $96.69 per share, with a total value of $96,690.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 1,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,524.50. This trade represents a 2,000.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Anastasia Minor sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.39, for a total transaction of $481,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 10,122 shares in the company, valued at $975,659.58. This represents a 33.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,179 shares of company stock worth $981,707. Company insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

About Entergy

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) is an integrated energy company headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, that generates, transmits and distributes electricity. The company’s operations combine regulated utility services with competitive power production, supplying retail electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers while also participating in wholesale energy markets. Entergy’s generation fleet includes nuclear, natural gas, hydropower and other resources, and it operates a network of transmission and distribution assets to deliver power to end users.

Entergy conducts its regulated utility business through state-based operating subsidiaries that serve customers across parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and southeast Texas.