Vistra (NYSE:VST) Shares Down 3.8% – Should You Sell?

Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) shares fell 3.8% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $184.50 and last traded at $185.61. 3,774,172 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 6,477,574 shares. The stock had previously closed at $193.04.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on VST. TD Cowen began coverage on Vistra in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Vistra from $207.00 to $223.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Vistra in a research note on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $238.00 target price for the company. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Vistra from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Vistra from $179.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $229.93.

Vistra Stock Down 3.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.58, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $62.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.60, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $199.56 and a 200-day moving average of $183.16.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($0.62). The business had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.15 billion. Vistra had a return on equity of 108.41% and a net margin of 12.90%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Vistra Corp. will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 22nd will be paid a $0.227 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 22nd. This is a boost from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.91 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Vistra’s payout ratio is 14.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vistra news, CEO James A. Burke sold 9,641 shares of Vistra stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.30, for a total transaction of $1,853,964.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,491,354.10. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 723,910 shares of company stock worth $148,086,569. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vistra

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Vistra by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,660,027 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,228,880,000 after acquiring an additional 226,514 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Vistra by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,106,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,392,299,000 after acquiring an additional 930,912 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its position in Vistra by 40.5% during the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,469,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,253,896,000 after acquiring an additional 1,864,931 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Vistra during the second quarter valued at approximately $930,080,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Vistra by 25.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,537,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $879,390,000 after purchasing an additional 913,350 shares during the last quarter. 90.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vistra Company Profile

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.