NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) Position Boosted by Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG – Get Rating) by 25.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 54,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,166 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $1,726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,785,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,216,414,000 after buying an additional 91,826 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 5.9% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 7,442,109 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $284,810,000 after purchasing an additional 415,430 shares during the last quarter. Permian Investment Partners LP boosted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Permian Investment Partners LP now owns 5,326,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $204,336,000 after purchasing an additional 73,000 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in NRG Energy by 145.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,746,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,064,000 after purchasing an additional 2,812,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in NRG Energy by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,674,864 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $178,924,000 after buying an additional 176,368 shares during the period. 99.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on NRG. TheStreet cut shares of NRG Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Bank of America raised NRG Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Monday, March 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on NRG Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.25.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NRG opened at $33.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.66, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.92. NRG Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $30.25 and a one year high of $47.82. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $33.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.59. The company has a market capitalization of $7.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.03.

NRG Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 1st were paid a $0.377 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 28th. This represents a $1.51 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.51%. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is -19.04%.

About NRG Energy

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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.