Analysts Set NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) Price Target at $68.00

Shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $68.00.

Several equities research analysts have commented on NRG shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on NRG Energy from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on NRG Energy from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com raised NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on NRG Energy from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Rasesh M. Patel sold 24,546 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.41, for a total transaction of $2,047,381.86. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 266,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,192,398.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in NRG Energy by 106.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 14,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after buying an additional 7,704 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in NRG Energy by 104.5% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 73,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,000,000 after buying an additional 37,750 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in NRG Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $349,000. National Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in NRG Energy by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. National Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 7,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after buying an additional 1,058 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yaupon Capital Management LP grew its holdings in NRG Energy by 116.5% in the 1st quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP now owns 188,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,753,000 after buying an additional 101,378 shares in the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NRG Energy Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:NRG opened at $77.86 on Friday. NRG Energy has a fifty-two week low of $35.97 and a fifty-two week high of $87.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.61, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.23 billion, a PE ratio of 11.03 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.32.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $7.43 billion during the quarter. NRG Energy had a net margin of 5.76% and a return on equity of 42.60%. Sell-side analysts expect that NRG Energy will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.4075 per share. This represents a $1.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 30th. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is presently 23.09%.

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.