Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $1.04 Million Holdings in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor 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.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in NRG Energy by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in NRG Energy by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 17,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $687,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC raised its holdings in NRG Energy by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 7,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report 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 upgraded NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on NRG Energy from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.50.

NRG Energy Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE NRG opened at $72.62 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.82. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.52 and a 52 week high of $76.54. 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 (NYSE:NRG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.51 billion. NRG Energy had a positive return on equity of 44.03% and a negative net margin of 0.70%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NRG Energy news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

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.