Verus Capital Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in Vistra Corp. $VST

Verus Capital Partners LLC cut its holdings in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 20.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,364 shares of the company’s stock after selling 865 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Vistra were worth $652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Vistra by 0.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,190,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $492,102,000 after purchasing an additional 11,386 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Vistra by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,083,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,166,000 after purchasing an additional 57,358 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vistra in the 1st quarter worth approximately $209,149,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Vistra by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,712,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $331,943,000 after purchasing an additional 329,294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Vistra by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,470,680 shares of the company’s stock valued at $172,717,000 after buying an additional 118,230 shares during the period. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Vistra

In other Vistra news, CEO James A. Burke sold 43,074 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.75, for a total transaction of $8,991,697.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 217,025 shares in the company, valued at $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 through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 723,910 shares of company stock valued at $148,086,569 over the last quarter. 1.42% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Vistra from $236.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Vistra from $237.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Vistra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Vistra in a report on Monday, September 22nd. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $256.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Melius assumed coverage on shares of Vistra in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vistra has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $234.21.

Vistra Trading Down 5.0%

NYSE VST opened at $178.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $60.62 billion, a PE ratio of 64.59, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.30. Vistra Corp. has a 12 month low of $90.51 and a 12 month high of $219.82. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $198.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $186.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.74.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.78 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $4.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.60 billion. Vistra had a net margin of 6.70% and a return on equity of 64.04%. Equities research analysts forecast that Vistra Corp. will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 22nd will be issued a $0.227 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is presently 32.49%.

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.