NRG Energy, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.41 (NYSE:NRG)

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of 0.4075 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th.

NRG Energy has raised its dividend by an average of 8.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 5 consecutive years. NRG Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 23.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect NRG Energy to earn $6.27 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.63 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.0%.

NRG Energy Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NRG opened at $72.81 on Monday. NRG Energy has a 52 week low of $30.52 and a 52 week high of $76.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49. The company has a market capitalization of $15.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -68.05 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $65.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.37.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.20. NRG Energy had a positive return on equity of 44.03% and a negative net margin of 0.70%. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.51 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NRG Energy will post 5.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at NRG Energy

In related news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total value of $3,072,668.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 356,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,342,251.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on NRG Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Citigroup increased their price target on NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on NRG Energy from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.50.

About NRG Energy

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.