Entergy Corporation $ETR Stock: Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Decreases Holdings

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its stake in Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 110,720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 21,847 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Entergy were worth $10,990,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ETR. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 9,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $964,000 after buying an additional 631 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Entergy by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 64,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,448,000 after buying an additional 1,093 shares during the last quarter. 71 West Capital Partners grew its stake in Entergy by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. 71 West Capital Partners now owns 2,330 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC grew its stake in Entergy by 188.3% in the 3rd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 13,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after buying an additional 8,802 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in Entergy by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 473,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,972,000 after acquiring an additional 1,663 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Trading Up 0.2%

ETR stock opened at $111.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.18. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.95. Entergy Corporation has a 52 week low of $90.87 and a 52 week high of $118.44. The company has a market capitalization of $53.49 billion, a PE ratio of 25.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.44.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.25. Entergy had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The business had revenue of $4.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Entergy Corporation will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. This is a boost from Entergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Entergy from $122.00 to $121.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Entergy from $123.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Entergy from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Entergy from $137.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Evercore lifted their price target on Entergy from $121.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.57.

Insider Activity at Entergy

In other news, insider Laura Landreaux sold 5,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.20, for a total transaction of $594,720.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 22,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,398,951.80. This trade represents a 19.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Profile

Entergy Corporation is an investor-owned energy company headquartered in New Orleans. Its primary business is providing regulated electric utility service to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Through its utility subsidiaries, Entergy serves communities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Its operations include generating, transmitting and distributing electricity, with power produced from a mix of sources that includes nuclear energy. The company traces its corporate history to Middle South Utilities, which adopted the Entergy name in 1989.