B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Invests $1.04 Million in NRG Energy, Inc. $NRG

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,036,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NRG. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in NRG Energy by 2.2% in the second quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $473,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Donald L. Hagan LLC lifted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Donald L. Hagan LLC now owns 3,384 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in NRG Energy by 6.2% during the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 3.0% in the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 2,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 32.1% in the second quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Virginia Kinney sold 20,000 shares of NRG Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.82, for a total value of $3,276,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 43,191 shares in the company, valued at $7,075,549.62. This trade represents a 31.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on NRG. Melius Research started coverage on NRG Energy in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $308.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $198.00 price target on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on NRG Energy in a report on Monday, September 22nd. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.21.

NRG Energy Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE NRG opened at $160.14 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $30.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.94 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $167.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $159.86. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.57 and a 12-month high of $180.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.45.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.85. The business had revenue of $7.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.53 billion. NRG Energy had a net margin of 4.84% and a return on equity of 103.57%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 6.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, November 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the utilities provider to reacquire up to 9.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.31%.

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.