TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Grows Stock Position in Vistra Corp. $VST

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its position in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,938 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,965 shares during the quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in Vistra were worth $5,506,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VST. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Vistra during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,610,496,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Vistra in the fourth quarter worth $746,729,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of Vistra by 95.1% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 177,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,638,000 after buying an additional 86,393 shares in the last quarter. Payden & Rygel boosted its stake in Vistra by 3,118.2% during the fourth quarter. Payden & Rygel now owns 35,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,711,000 after buying an additional 34,300 shares during the period. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Vistra during the fourth quarter valued at $29,875,000. Institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $206.00 target price on Vistra in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Vistra in a report on Monday, August 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $169.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Vistra in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Vistra in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Vistra from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. One equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vistra

In other Vistra news, CEO James A. Burke bought 4,465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $135.25 per share, for a total transaction of $603,891.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,146,352 shares in the company, valued at $155,044,108. This trade represents a 0.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Scott Helm sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 232,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,152,000. This represents a 9.72% 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 31,988 shares of company stock worth $5,178,427 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Vistra Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VST opened at $149.27 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $50.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.21 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. Vistra Corp. has a 1-year low of $132.66 and a 1-year high of $219.82. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $149.39 and its 200 day moving average is $154.70.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.61 by ($0.85). The firm 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 anticipate that Vistra Corp. will post 9.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 21st will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 21st. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.54%.

Vistra Company 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.