NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $59.50.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on NRG shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of NRG Energy from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th.

NRG Energy Price Performance

Shares of NRG Energy stock opened at $72.96 on Tuesday. NRG Energy has a 1 year low of $30.52 and a 1 year high of $76.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $61.62 and its 200 day moving average is $52.27.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.20. NRG Energy had a negative net margin of 0.70% and a positive return on equity of 44.03%. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.51 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that NRG Energy will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 1st were given a dividend of $0.4075 per share. This represents a $1.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 31st. This is an increase from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is presently -152.34%.

Insider Activity at NRG Energy

In other NRG Energy news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total transaction of $3,072,668.28. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 356,962 shares in the company, valued at $22,342,251.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of NRG Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,267 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,575,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 39,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,689,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 12,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $659,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 35.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in NRG Energy by 2.5% during the first quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 9,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy Company Profile

NRG Energy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy and home services company in the United States and Canada. It operates through Texas; East; West/Services/Other; Vivint Smart Home; and Corporate Activities segments. The company produces and sells electricity generated using coal, oil, solar, and battery storage; natural gas; and a cloud-based home platform, including hardware, software, sales, installation, customer service, technical support, and professional monitoring solutions.