Entergy Corporation $ETR Shares Bought by Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 8.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 147,108 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,255 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Entergy were worth $12,228,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Entergy by 5.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,828,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,687,331,000 after acquiring an additional 2,695,348 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Entergy by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,173,889 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,126,244,000 after purchasing an additional 289,468 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Entergy by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,242,611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $930,541,000 after purchasing an additional 505,344 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Entergy by 114.6% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,931,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $577,806,000 after buying an additional 3,702,089 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Entergy by 3.4% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,333,701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $370,488,000 after buying an additional 143,187 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ETR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on Entergy from $91.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $106.00 price target (up from $96.00) on shares of Entergy in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Entergy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Entergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank set a $105.00 target price on shares of Entergy and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.59.

Entergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ETR opened at $94.03 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $94.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.32. Entergy Corporation has a 52 week low of $73.15 and a 52 week high of $98.58. The stock has a market cap of $42.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.22, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.63.

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

Entergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 13th will be paid a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 13th. This is an increase from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Entergy

In related news, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 5,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.50, for a total transaction of $495,624.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 7,899 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $762,253.50. This trade represents a 39.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anastasia Minor sold 5,000 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.39, for a total value of $481,950.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 10,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Entergy Company Profile

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.