Cottage Street Advisors LLC Increases Position in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Cottage Street Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 105.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,085 shares during the quarter. Cottage Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Entergy were worth $1,635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heritage Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 104.3% in the 4th quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Mendel Money Management lifted its position in Entergy by 99.6% during the fourth quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 9,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $731,000 after acquiring an additional 4,812 shares during the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in Entergy by 93.0% in the fourth quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 317,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,084,000 after acquiring an additional 153,027 shares in the last quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC boosted its stake in Entergy by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp grew its holdings in Entergy by 94.5% in the fourth quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 16,550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,255,000 after purchasing an additional 8,041 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of ETR opened at $82.92 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $83.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a market capitalization of $35.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.68. Entergy Corporation has a 52 week low of $50.19 and a 52 week high of $88.38.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. The firm had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. Entergy’s payout ratio is currently 98.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ETR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Entergy from $79.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Entergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Entergy from $85.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.75.

About Entergy

Entergy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and retail distribution of electricity in the United States. It generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power in portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, including the City of New Orleans; and distributes natural gas.