National Pension Service Buys 65,933 Shares of NRG Energy, Inc. $NRG

National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 599,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 65,933 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.31% of NRG Energy worth $97,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 9.7% during the second quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 155,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,953,000 after buying an additional 13,757 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in NRG Energy by 68.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 251,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,364,000 after acquiring an additional 101,922 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new stake in NRG Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $418,000. Trek Financial LLC bought a new stake in NRG Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,368,000. Finally, Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NRG Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,268,000. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NRG. UBS Group started coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $211.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on NRG Energy from $202.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $184.91.

NRG Energy Price Performance

Shares of NRG stock opened at $152.46 on Friday. NRG Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $79.57 and a twelve month high of $180.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $159.90. The company has a market cap of $29.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.79 and a beta of 1.25.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.85. NRG Energy had a net margin of 4.84% and a return on equity of 103.57%. The business had revenue of $7.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 6.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 2nd. This is a boost from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.31%.

NRG Energy declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, November 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the utilities provider to reacquire up to 9.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Bruce Chung sold 12,383 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 79,147 shares in the company, valued at $12,391,254.32. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian Curci sold 46,976 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.84, for a total value of $7,461,667.84. Following the sale, the vice president owned 46,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,324,588.92. The trade was a 50.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 192,556 shares of company stock worth $30,826,846. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy 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.