First Trust Advisors LP Lowers Holdings in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG – Get Rating) by 20.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 648,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 163,757 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $20,689,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NRG. Cowa LLC purchased a new position in NRG Energy in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Kistler Tiffany Companies LLC raised its holdings in NRG Energy by 92.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kistler Tiffany Companies LLC now owns 867 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NRG Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 91.0% in the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,049 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NRG Energy in the second quarter worth $80,000. 99.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NRG Energy Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NRG stock opened at $33.49 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.74. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.25 and a 12 month high of $47.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.66.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $7.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.67 billion. NRG Energy had a positive return on equity of 17.12% and a negative net margin of 5.90%. On average, analysts expect that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 1st were paid a dividend of $0.377 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 28th. This represents a $1.51 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.50%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -19.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NRG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TheStreet downgraded NRG Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Bank of America upgraded shares of NRG Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Monday, March 20th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.25.

NRG Energy Company Profile

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NRG Energy, Inc engages in the production, sale, and distribution of energy and energy services. It operates through the following segments: Generation, Retail, and Corporate. The Generation segment includes all power plant activities, domestic and international, as well as renewables. The Retail segment includes mass customers and business solutions, and other distributed and reliability products.