Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Acquires 1,534,290 Shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) by 98.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,090,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,534,290 shares during the quarter. Entergy accounts for about 0.7% of Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in Entergy were worth $234,333,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Entergy in the fourth quarter worth about $745,000. Hancock Whitney Corp increased its stake in Entergy by 99.9% in the 4th quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 5,384 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 2,690 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Entergy by 74.9% in the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 318,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,120,000 after purchasing an additional 136,256 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in Entergy by 104.3% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 15,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,211,000 after purchasing an additional 8,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Entergy by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 10,057 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $762,000 after purchasing an additional 2,652 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ETR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Entergy from $87.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Entergy from $79.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised Entergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 29th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Entergy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $86.50 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.25.

Entergy Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Entergy stock opened at $85.03 on Friday. Entergy Corporation has a 1 year low of $52.07 and a 1 year high of $88.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50-day moving average of $83.57 and a 200 day moving average of $78.25. The firm has a market cap of $36.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.92, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.56.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. Entergy had a net margin of 8.90% and a return on equity of 10.68%. The firm had revenue of $2.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Entergy Corporation will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Entergy’s payout ratio is presently 98.77%.

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.