Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Invests $674,000 in Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 7,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $674,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of VST. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Vistra by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,797,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $184,800,000 after purchasing an additional 282,056 shares during the last quarter. Third Point LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vistra by 27.6% in the 4th quarter. Third Point LLC now owns 4,600,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $177,192,000 after buying an additional 995,748 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Vistra by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,244,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,516,000 after buying an additional 99,055 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP raised its stake in Vistra by 470.0% during the first quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 3,769,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,569,000 after acquiring an additional 3,108,511 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Vistra by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,519,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,570,000 after acquiring an additional 363,897 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Vistra from $109.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.83.

Vistra Stock Up 0.5 %

VST stock opened at $80.47 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $27.65 billion, a PE ratio of 49.37 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.90. Vistra Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $31.16 and a fifty-two week high of $107.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.69). The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.04 billion. Vistra had a net margin of 4.61% and a return on equity of 21.05%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vistra Corp. will post 4.86 EPS for the current year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.2195 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. This is an increase from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Vistra’s payout ratio is presently 53.37%.

About Vistra

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.