Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Entergy (NYSE:ETR)

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders purchased 2,176 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 229% compared to the typical daily volume of 662 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Entergy news, EVP John C. Dinelli sold 5,372 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.95, for a total value of $558,419.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 23,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,454,155.55. The trade was a 18.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Entergy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ETR. Aristotle Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Entergy by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC now owns 2,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of Entergy by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 3,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. MFA Wealth Services lifted its position in Entergy by 3.8% during the third quarter. MFA Wealth Services now owns 2,891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its position in Entergy by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 1,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, Guidance Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Entergy by 0.8% in the third quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 13,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,348,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.07% of the company’s stock.

Entergy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ETR traded up $8.71 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $111.57. The company had a trading volume of 4,190,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,685,249. Entergy has a 1 year low of $75.57 and a 1 year high of $111.33. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $101.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The stock has a market cap of $50.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.64.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.01). Entergy had a net margin of 13.66% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. Entergy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.250-4.450 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Entergy will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Entergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Entergy’s payout ratio is 65.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ETR. Mizuho set a $112.00 price objective on shares of Entergy in a research report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Entergy from $102.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Entergy from $113.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Entergy in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Argus set a $100.00 price objective on Entergy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.17.

About Entergy

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR) is an integrated energy company headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, that generates, transmits and distributes electricity. The company’s operations combine regulated utility services with competitive power production, supplying retail electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers while also participating in wholesale energy markets. Entergy’s generation fleet includes nuclear, natural gas, hydropower and other resources, and it operates a network of transmission and distribution assets to deliver power to end users.

Entergy conducts its regulated utility business through state-based operating subsidiaries that serve customers across parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and southeast Texas.