13,700 Shares in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) Bought by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 13,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $708,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in NRG Energy by 81.1% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 305,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,816,000 after purchasing an additional 136,968 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in NRG Energy in the fourth quarter worth $743,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in NRG Energy by 486.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 900,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,688,000 after purchasing an additional 746,899 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in NRG Energy by 2.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,729,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $220,696,000 after purchasing an additional 156,974 shares during the period. Finally, Covalis Capital LLP grew its stake in NRG Energy by 23.5% in the third quarter. Covalis Capital LLP now owns 506,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,512,000 after purchasing an additional 96,386 shares during the period. 97.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at NRG Energy

In other NRG Energy news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NRG Energy Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:NRG opened at $72.81 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -68.05 and a beta of 1.13. 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $65.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.28.

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

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on NRG shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on NRG Energy from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com raised NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on NRG Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. 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 an average price target of $59.50.

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.