Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) to Issue $0.60 Quarterly Dividend

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.60 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%.

Entergy has raised its dividend by an average of 5.9% per year over the last three years. Entergy has a payout ratio of 55.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Entergy to earn $3.85 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.3%.

Entergy Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of ETR traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $81.17. The company had a trading volume of 7,474,986 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,123,330. Entergy has a 1-year low of $48.08 and a 1-year high of $84.26. The stock has a market cap of $34.81 billion, a PE ratio of 19.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.04. Entergy had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 14.83%. The business had revenue of $3.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Entergy will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Haley Fisackerly sold 8,268 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.52, for a total transaction of $616,090.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 4,032 shares in the company, valued at $300,444.48. The trade was a 67.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Deanna D. Rodriguez sold 6,088 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.94, for a total value of $450,146.72. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,210.88. The trade was a 60.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,756 shares of company stock worth $1,095,637. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ETR. Scotiabank cut their target price on Entergy from $165.00 to $82.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Entergy from $83.00 to $79.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Bank of America downgraded Entergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Entergy from $69.00 to $82.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Entergy from $72.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Entergy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.81.

Entergy Company 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.