Man Group plc Boosts Stake in Vistra Corp. $VST

Man Group plc grew its position in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 402,447 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,846 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc owned about 0.12% of Vistra worth $63,840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VST. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Vistra during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Vistra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Vistra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Strive Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Vistra during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vistra in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 90.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VST. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Vistra from $293.00 to $298.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $212.00 price target on shares of Vistra in a report on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered Vistra from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. BNP Paribas Exane set a $255.00 price objective on Vistra in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Vistra in a research report on Monday, June 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.53.

Vistra Trading Up 2.5%

NYSE VST opened at $139.09 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $155.70. Vistra Corp. has a 52 week low of $132.66 and a 52 week high of $219.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The stock has a market cap of $46.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.50 and a beta of 1.41.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by ($0.85). Vistra had a net margin of 11.55% and a return on equity of 108.68%. The firm had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.46 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Vistra Corp. will post 9.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 21st will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 15.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vistra news, Director Scott B. Helm sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total transaction of $4,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 232,200 shares in the company, valued at $37,152,000. This trade represents a 9.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director John R. Sult sold 6,500 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 36,588 shares of company stock valued at $5,914,427 in the last three months. 0.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.