Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Vistra Corp. $VST

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 18.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,461 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 9,305 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Vistra were worth $9,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Vistra by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,660,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,228,880,000 after acquiring an additional 226,514 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Vistra by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,106,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,392,299,000 after purchasing an additional 930,912 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Vistra in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $930,080,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Vistra by 0.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,572,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $895,872,000 after purchasing an additional 35,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Vistra by 11.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,983,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $584,599,000 after purchasing an additional 303,573 shares during the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VST has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $215.00 target price on shares of Vistra in a report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Vistra from $230.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Vistra from $287.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Vistra from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $191.00 to $203.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Vistra in a report on Monday, December 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vistra has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $236.87.

Insider Transactions at Vistra

In related news, EVP Stephanie Zapata Moore sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.31, for a total value of $1,603,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 114,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,340,906.79. The trade was a 8.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Vistra Stock Performance

Vistra stock opened at $155.77 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $161.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.16. Vistra Corp. has a 52 week low of $90.51 and a 52 week high of $219.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.79, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.01.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.45 by ($0.27). The business had revenue of $4.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.75 billion. Vistra had a return on equity of 81.09% and a net margin of 5.32%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Vistra Corp. will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be given a $0.228 dividend. This is a boost from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.91 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is 41.94%.

Vistra Profile

Vistra (NYSE: VST) is an integrated power company that develops, owns and operates electricity generation and retail businesses in the United States. The company’s operations span wholesale power production—through a diversified fleet of thermal and lower?carbon generation assets—and retail electricity supply to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Vistra serves organized wholesale markets and competitive retail markets, with a notable presence in Texas and other regional U.S. power markets.

Vistra’s core activities include the ownership and operation of generation facilities, the commercial dispatch and optimization of those assets into wholesale markets, and the sale of electricity and related services to end-use customers through its retail brands.