Johnson Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Vistra Corp. $VST

Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 954.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 654 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 592 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Vistra were worth $127,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Korea Investment CORP raised its position in Vistra by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 503,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,510,000 after purchasing an additional 29,646 shares during the last quarter. Atika Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Vistra by 6.9% during the second quarter. Atika Capital Management LLC now owns 124,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,032,000 after buying an additional 8,000 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vistra by 22.5% during the second quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,109,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946 shares in the last quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vistra by 20.8% during the second quarter. GM Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $572,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Vistra by 23.4% in the second quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 10,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,977,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936 shares during the period. 90.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vistra

In other Vistra news, CEO James A. Burke sold 43,074 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.75, for a total value of $8,991,697.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 217,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,303,968.75. The trade was a 16.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Carrie Lee Kirby sold 58,275 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.75, for a total value of $10,183,556.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 218,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,137,265.25. This represents a 21.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 868,339 shares of company stock worth $173,242,584. 1.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VST shares. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Vistra in a research report on Monday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $217.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Vistra from $237.00 to $243.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Vistra from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Vistra in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Vistra in a research report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vistra has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.20.

Vistra Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE VST opened at $179.00 on Friday. Vistra Corp. has a 1 year low of $90.51 and a 1 year high of $219.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.74, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $191.92 and a 200 day moving average of $188.78. The stock has a market cap of $60.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.30.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by ($0.03). Vistra had a return on equity of 64.04% and a net margin of 6.70%.The business had revenue of $4.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.60 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vistra Corp. will post 7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.227 per share. This is a boost from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 22nd. This represents a $0.91 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is 32.49%.

About Vistra

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.