Entergy (NYSE:ETR) Hits New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $98.95 and last traded at $98.50, with a volume of 115433 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $98.15.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp set a $102.00 target price on shares of Entergy and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $104.00 target price (up from $96.00) on shares of Entergy in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Entergy from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Entergy from $91.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Entergy in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.83.

Entergy Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $94.08 and its 200-day moving average is $93.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $44.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.65.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 9th. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Entergy news, Director Ralph Lewis Ropp acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $96.69 per share, for a total transaction of $96,690.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 1,050 shares in the company, valued at $101,524.50. This represents a 2,000.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Entergy

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,537,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,410,596,000 after buying an additional 589,317 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Entergy by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,337,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,174,864,000 after acquiring an additional 417,077 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Entergy by 2.9% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,034,738 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,494,277,000 after acquiring an additional 452,562 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,648,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,365,113,000 after purchasing an additional 472,761 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Entergy by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,652,982 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,134,850,000 after purchasing an additional 479,093 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Company Profile

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) is an integrated energy company headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, that generates, transmits and distributes electricity. The company’s operations combine regulated utility services with competitive power production, supplying retail electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers while also participating in wholesale energy markets. Entergy’s generation fleet includes nuclear, natural gas, hydropower and other resources, and it operates a network of transmission and distribution assets to deliver power to end users.

Entergy conducts its regulated utility business through state-based operating subsidiaries that serve customers across parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and southeast Texas.