Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Invests $217,000 in Vistra Corp. $VST

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VST. Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in shares of Vistra by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 73,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vistra in the 1st quarter worth approximately $341,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vistra in the 1st quarter worth approximately $432,000. Peak Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vistra in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $547,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vistra by 29.1% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 255,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,021,000 after purchasing an additional 57,551 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Vistra

In other news, CEO James A. Burke sold 43,074 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 217,025 shares in the company, valued at $45,303,968.75. The trade was a 16.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 379,645 shares of company stock worth $78,263,666. 1.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Vistra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Melius Research raised shares of Vistra to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Vistra in a report on Monday, September 22nd. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $256.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Vistra from $207.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Vistra from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.85.

Vistra Stock Down 0.4%

VST opened at $199.65 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $200.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $171.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Vistra Corp. has a one year low of $90.51 and a one year high of $219.82.

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

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.226 per share. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 19th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.35%.

Vistra Company 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.