NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) Receives $59.50 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $59.50.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NRG. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. TheStreet upgraded NRG Energy from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th.

NRG Energy Price Performance

Shares of NRG Energy stock opened at $74.59 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.02 billion, a PE ratio of -69.71 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $60.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.59. NRG Energy has a 12 month low of $30.52 and a 12 month high of $74.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.51 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that NRG Energy will post 5.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 1st were issued a $0.4075 dividend. This is a boost from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 31st. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently -152.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total value of $3,072,668.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 356,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,342,251.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NRG Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NRG. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of NRG Energy by 81.1% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 305,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,816,000 after acquiring an additional 136,968 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in NRG Energy by 486.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 900,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,688,000 after acquiring an additional 746,899 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 2.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,729,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $220,696,000 after purchasing an additional 156,974 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 14,547.8% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 515,310 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,642,000 after purchasing an additional 511,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covalis Capital LLP increased its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. Covalis Capital LLP now owns 506,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,512,000 after acquiring an additional 96,386 shares during the period. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.