Burnham & Co LLC Acquires Shares of 11,317 Vistra Corp. $VST

Burnham & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 11,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,795,000. Vistra accounts for about 1.4% of Burnham & Co LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Equitable Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Vistra by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. now owns 7,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,380,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Vistra by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its position in shares of Vistra by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Vistra by 4.9% during the first quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principle Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vistra by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,333,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vistra

In other Vistra news, Director John R. Sult sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $1,105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 70,714 shares in the company, valued at $12,021,380. This represents a 8.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Margaret Montemayor sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.96, for a total transaction of $824,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,368,825.60. This represents a 25.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,588 shares of company stock worth $6,739,227. 0.92% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Vistra from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $187.00 price target on Vistra and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Vistra from $240.00 to $231.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Vistra in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $206.00 price objective on shares of Vistra in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.94.

Vistra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VST opened at $136.43 on Friday. Vistra Corp. has a 1 year low of $132.66 and a 1 year high of $219.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.05 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50-day moving average is $153.73 and its 200 day moving average is $155.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.61 by ($0.85). The company had revenue of $4.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.46 billion. Vistra had a return on equity of 108.68% and a net margin of 11.55%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vistra Corp. will post 9.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 21st will be issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 21st. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Vistra’s payout ratio is 15.54%.

About Vistra

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.