Inspire Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in NRG Energy, Inc. $NRG

Inspire Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 56.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,788 shares during the quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in NRG Energy by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 1,528 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of NRG Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $323,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in NRG Energy by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,934,000 after buying an additional 1,381 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in NRG Energy by 40.7% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 17,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,634,000 after buying an additional 4,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its position in NRG Energy by 19.7% during the second quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 33,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,392,000 after acquiring an additional 5,534 shares during the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $198.00 price objective on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Monday, October 20th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on NRG Energy from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. UBS Group assumed coverage on NRG Energy in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $211.00 target price for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at NRG Energy

In related news, VP Brian Curci sold 60,580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.71, for a total transaction of $9,796,391.80. Following the sale, the vice president owned 93,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,053,422.19. The trade was a 39.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Virginia Kinney sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.82, for a total transaction of $3,276,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 43,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,075,549.62. This represents a 31.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 192,556 shares of company stock valued at $30,826,846. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

NRG Energy stock opened at $152.05 on Tuesday. NRG Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.57 and a fifty-two week high of $180.54. The stock has a market cap of $29.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.73 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $159.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.45, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.05.

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

NRG Energy declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, November 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the utilities provider to buy up to 9.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

NRG Energy Company Profile

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.