Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG)

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders purchased 8,563 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 37% compared to the average volume of 6,237 call options.

Insider Activity at NRG Energy

In other NRG Energy news, insider Rasesh M. Patel sold 24,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.41, for a total value of $2,047,381.86. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 266,064 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,192,398.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other NRG Energy news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 356,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,342,251.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Rasesh M. Patel sold 24,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.41, for a total transaction of $2,047,381.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 266,064 shares in the company, valued at $22,192,398.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NRG Energy

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. LifeSteps Financial Inc. acquired a new position in NRG Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of NRG Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NRG Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of NRG Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 1,005.5% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 734 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NRG. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.50.

NRG Energy Stock Up 6.1 %

Shares of NYSE:NRG opened at $86.00 on Friday. NRG Energy has a one year low of $31.68 and a one year high of $86.46. The company has a 50 day moving average of $74.09 and a 200-day moving average of $59.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.61, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $17.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.18 and a beta of 1.11.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.20. NRG Energy had a net margin of 5.76% and a return on equity of 42.60%. The company had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.51 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NRG Energy will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st were given a dividend of $0.4075 per share. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 30th. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 23.09%.

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.