Ellsworth Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 20,077 Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 20,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $773,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VST. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Vistra by 19,070.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,566,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,426,000 after acquiring an additional 5,537,584 shares during the period. Steadfast Capital Management LP bought a new position in Vistra during the 2nd quarter valued at about $67,462,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in Vistra during the 3rd quarter valued at about $57,218,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Vistra by 2,443.7% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,781,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,418,000 after acquiring an additional 1,711,407 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Vistra by 509.3% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,734,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,449,905 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Vistra Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VST traded up $1.34 during trading on Friday, hitting $69.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,824,947 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,136,572. The company has a 50-day moving average of $51.92 and a 200-day moving average of $41.00. Vistra Corp. has a 12 month low of $22.67 and a 12 month high of $73.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.26, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $24.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.03.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.48) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($1.02). The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.48 billion. Vistra had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 10.10%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vistra Corp. will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 20th will be issued a $0.215 dividend. This represents a $0.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 19th. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Carrie Lee Kirby sold 72,748 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.63, for a total value of $4,556,207.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 184,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,536,508.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Carrie Lee Kirby sold 72,748 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.63, for a total value of $4,556,207.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 184,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,536,508.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephanie Zapata Moore sold 98,020 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.50, for a total transaction of $5,734,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 161,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,470,448. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 257,285 shares of company stock valued at $15,404,397. 1.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Vistra from $42.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $78.00 price objective on shares of Vistra in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Vistra from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.75.

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.