NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) Shares Acquired by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $1,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of NRG Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in NRG Energy by 1,005.5% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 734 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in NRG Energy by 35.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in NRG Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $57,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in NRG Energy by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on NRG. TheStreet raised shares of NRG Energy from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.50.

NRG Energy Price Performance

NRG opened at $72.62 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.96. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.52 and a 1 year high of $76.54.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.51 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 5.36 EPS for the current year.

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a $0.4075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently -152.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NRG Energy

In other NRG Energy news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of NRG Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total transaction of $3,072,668.28. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 356,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,342,251.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NRG Energy 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.