Equitable Holdings Inc. Makes New $4.10 Million Investment in Vistra Corp. $VST

Equitable Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 25,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,097,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of VST. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Vistra during the 2nd quarter worth $4,610,496,000. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Vistra by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,474,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,657,891,000 after buying an additional 432,028 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vistra by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,965,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,441,112,000 after buying an additional 97,424 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Vistra in the fourth quarter valued at about $746,729,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Vistra by 0.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,572,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $895,872,000 after buying an additional 35,258 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VST shares. BNP Paribas Exane set a $255.00 price objective on Vistra in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Vistra from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Vistra from $240.00 to $231.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Vistra from $222.00 to $221.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Vistra in a research note on Monday, June 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vistra presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.53.

Vistra Price Performance

Vistra stock opened at $139.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.63 and a beta of 1.41. Vistra Corp. has a 52-week low of $132.66 and a 52-week high of $219.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $152.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.61 by ($0.85). The company had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.46 billion. Vistra had a return on equity of 108.68% and a net margin of 11.55%. On average, equities analysts predict that Vistra Corp. will post 9.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 21st will be issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 21st. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is 15.54%.

Insider Activity at Vistra

In other Vistra news, Director John R. Sult sold 6,500 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $1,105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 70,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,021,380. The trade was a 8.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Scott B. Helm sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $4,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 232,200 shares in the company, valued at $37,152,000. This represents a 9.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,588 shares of company stock valued at $5,914,427. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Vistra Company Profile

Vistra (NYSE: VST) is an integrated power company that develops, owns and operates electricity generation and retail businesses in the United States. The company’s operations span wholesale power production—through a diversified fleet of thermal and lower?carbon generation assets—and retail electricity supply to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Vistra serves organized wholesale markets and competitive retail markets, with a notable presence in Texas and other regional U.S. power markets.

Vistra’s core activities include the ownership and operation of generation facilities, the commercial dispatch and optimization of those assets into wholesale markets, and the sale of electricity and related services to end-use customers through its retail brands.