Ballentine Partners LLC Has $384,000 Stock Position in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)

Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,786 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 213 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Vistra were worth $384,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Vistra by 6.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,355,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,938,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037,402 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Vistra by 51.1% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,826,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,609,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,974 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Vistra by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,781,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $448,320,000 after buying an additional 1,000,307 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP increased its position in Vistra by 33.5% in the 3rd quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,610,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,422,000 after buying an additional 654,568 shares during the period. Finally, Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Vistra by 60.1% during the third quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 2,125,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $251,898,000 after buying an additional 797,894 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Vistra in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $202.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Vistra from $135.00 to $169.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Vistra from $133.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Vistra from $161.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas began coverage on Vistra in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $231.00 price objective on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vistra

In related news, Director Scott B. Helm sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.77, for a total transaction of $2,795,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 343,350 shares in the company, valued at $47,990,029.50. This represents a 5.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephen J. Muscato sold 207,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.34, for a total transaction of $33,413,514.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 318,287 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,352,424.58. The trade was a 39.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 342,100 shares of company stock worth $55,087,314. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Vistra Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE VST opened at $191.70 on Friday. Vistra Corp. has a 52-week low of $39.13 and a 52-week high of $199.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.68, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average of $155.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $119.39. The stock has a market cap of $65.22 billion, a PE ratio of 35.76, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.21.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $5.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $4.01. The firm had revenue of $6.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.96 billion. Vistra had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 57.63%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vistra Corp. will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 20th were issued a dividend of $0.221 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. This is a boost from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 20th. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.60%.

Vistra announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, November 7th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 2.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Vistra 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.