Brokerages Set NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) PT at $196.33

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $196.3333.

Several brokerages recently commented on NRG. Morgan Stanley set a $153.00 price objective on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research raised shares of NRG Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of NRG Energy from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $202.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $211.00 price objective for the company.

Insider Transactions at NRG Energy

In other news, VP Brian Curci sold 46,976 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.84, for a total transaction of $7,461,667.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 46,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,324,588.92. The trade was a 50.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Bruce Chung sold 12,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.56, for a total transaction of $1,938,682.48. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 79,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,391,254.32. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 172,556 shares of company stock worth $27,550,446 over the last three months. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of NRG Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of NRG Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of NRG Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Core Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NRG Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its position in NRG Energy by 90.4% during the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:NRG opened at $152.75 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.92. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.77. NRG Energy has a 12-month low of $79.57 and a 12-month high of $189.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.77 and a beta of 1.26.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $7.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. NRG Energy had a return on equity of 109.48% and a net margin of 2.81%.The company’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that NRG Energy will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd were issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 2nd. This is a positive change from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 48.22%.

About NRG Energy

NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) is a U.S.-based integrated power company headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company develops, owns and operates a diversified portfolio of power generation assets and participates in wholesale and retail energy markets. NRG supplies electricity to utilities, commercial and industrial customers, and retail consumers, while also providing energy-related products and services designed to manage consumption and support reliability.

NRG’s generation mix includes conventional thermal plants as well as renewable and distributed energy resources.