Great West Life Assurance Co. Can Has $5.26 Million Stock Position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG – Get Rating) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 137,576 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,197 shares during the quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $5,263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in NRG. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of NRG Energy by 206.8% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of NRG Energy by 163.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new stake in shares of NRG Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $71,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NRG Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NRG Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $80,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NRG Energy

In related news, CEO Mauricio Gutierrez acquired 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $32.03 per share, for a total transaction of $480,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,111,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,597,117.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other NRG Energy news, CEO Mauricio Gutierrez bought 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $32.03 per share, with a total value of $480,450.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,111,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,597,117.04. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Antonio Carrillo bought 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $31.71 per share, for a total transaction of $285,390.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 27,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $870,312.66. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on NRG shares. UBS Group cut shares of NRG Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 7th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on NRG Energy from $46.00 to $43.00 in a report on Thursday, December 8th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on NRG Energy in a report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Bank of America upgraded NRG Energy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $32.00 in a report on Monday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut NRG Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $37.00 in a report on Friday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.00.

NRG Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NRG opened at $32.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.09, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50-day moving average of $35.38 and a 200-day moving average of $38.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.27. NRG Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.64 and a fifty-two week high of $47.82.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.35). NRG Energy had a net margin of 6.15% and a negative return on equity of 0.66%. The firm had revenue of $8.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 11.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 1st will be paid a $0.3775 dividend. This is an increase from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.51 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.69%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.77%.

NRG Energy Company Profile

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NRG Energy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated power company in the United States. It operates through Texas, East, and West. The company is involved in the producing, selling, and delivering electricity and related products and services to approximately 6 million residential, commercial, industrial, and wholesale customers.