Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Purchases 1,817 Shares of Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its position in Entergy Co. (NYSE:ETR) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,817 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Entergy were worth $5,134,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in Entergy by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,904,933 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,950,000 after buying an additional 258,806 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Entergy by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,921,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Entergy by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 63,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,466,000 after acquiring an additional 10,760 shares in the last quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Entergy by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd now owns 932,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $94,351,000 after purchasing an additional 109,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guidance Capital Inc. boosted its position in Entergy by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 12,855 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,810 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Entergy

In other Entergy news, EVP Marcus V. Brown sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.84, for a total transaction of $874,140.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,019,247.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Entergy news, EVP Marcus V. Brown sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.84, for a total value of $874,140.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,019,247.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 1,500 shares of Entergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.23, for a total transaction of $151,845.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $348,433.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,000 shares of company stock worth $1,226,685 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Stock Performance

Shares of ETR stock opened at $106.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $102.62 and a 200 day moving average of $100.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.71. Entergy Co. has a 1 year low of $87.10 and a 1 year high of $109.70.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The utilities provider reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52. Entergy had a return on equity of 10.54% and a net margin of 19.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Entergy Co. will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Entergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 2nd will be issued a dividend of $1.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 1st. This represents a $4.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.23%. Entergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on ETR. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Entergy from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $117.00 target price on shares of Entergy in a research report on Monday, February 26th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Entergy from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Entergy from $108.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Entergy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.00.

Entergy 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.