Vistra (NYSE:VST) Shares Up 3.9% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) rose 3.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $158.74 and last traded at $156.1950. Approximately 5,069,480 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 1% from the average session volume of 5,117,739 shares. The stock had previously closed at $150.32.

Key Stories Impacting Vistra

Here are the key news stories impacting Vistra this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley maintained an Overweight rating and lowered its price target only slightly, from $227 to $226. The target implies substantial potential upside from recent trading levels, reinforcing the bullish analyst view. Benzinga analyst rating report
• Positive Sentiment: Investors continue to recognize the potential of the U.S. Department of Energy’s conditional loan commitment of up to $4.2 billion for uprates and modernization across Vistra’s Pennsylvania and Ohio nuclear fleet. The financing could support generation growth and improve the long-term economics of the assets. Department of Energy nuclear financing announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Vistra’s 20-year power purchase agreements covering more than 2,600 megawatts of carbon-free nuclear energy for Meta provide greater visibility into future demand, particularly from data centers and other electricity-intensive customers. Vistra and Meta nuclear power agreements
• Positive Sentiment: The recent redemption of all outstanding Series A preferred stock may simplify Vistra’s capital structure and eliminate an expensive layer of financing, potentially improving shareholder value. Vistra preferred-stock redemption announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: VST is trading above its 50-day moving average, supported by rising earnings estimates and strong returns. This is technically constructive, but does not by itself establish a new fundamental catalyst. Zacks technical analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Reported insider activity remains mixed to negative: executives have made considerably more sales than purchases over the past six months. Institutional positioning is also mixed, with large additions from some investors offset by significant reductions from others.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VST has been the topic of several research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce assumed coverage on shares of Vistra in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $201.00 price objective on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane set a $255.00 target price on shares of Vistra in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $181.00 price objective on shares of Vistra in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Vistra from $227.00 to $226.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group set a $176.00 price objective on shares of Vistra in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.32.

Vistra Trading Up 3.9%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The firm has a market cap of $52.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.38 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a 50 day moving average of $145.31 and a 200 day moving average of $151.28.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.61 by ($0.85). Vistra had a return on equity of 108.68% and a net margin of 11.55%. The firm had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.46 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Vistra Corp. will post 9.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 21st were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 21st. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.2290. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is 15.54%.

Insider Activity at Vistra

In other news, EVP Scott A. Hudson sold 22,222 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.14, for a total transaction of $3,558,631.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 308,915 shares in the company, valued at $49,469,648.10. This represents a 6.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO James Burke bought 4,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $135.25 per share, for a total transaction of $603,891.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,146,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $155,044,108. This trade represents a 0.39% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vistra

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Vistra during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,610,496,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Vistra by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,850,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,672,987,000 after purchasing an additional 79,972 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Vistra by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,436,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $516,616,000 after purchasing an additional 32,982 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Vistra in the second quarter valued at about $468,354,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Vistra in the second quarter valued at about $381,938,000. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Vistra

Vistra Corp. (NYSE: VST) is an integrated energy company based in Irving, Texas. The company operates across electricity generation, power distribution support, energy marketing and retail electricity sales, serving residential, commercial and industrial customers primarily in the United States.

Vistra owns and operates a diverse portfolio of power generation and energy storage facilities. Its assets include natural gas, nuclear, coal and renewable generation, as well as battery storage projects.