The Goldman Sachs Group Begins Coverage on NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG)

Stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $197.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 27.42% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also commented on NRG. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of NRG Energy from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $202.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of NRG Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on NRG Energy from $198.00 to $181.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $196.33.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:NRG opened at $154.61 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $33.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.24 and a beta of 1.26. NRG Energy has a fifty-two week low of $79.57 and a fifty-two week high of $189.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.92, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $159.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $161.53.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.15). NRG Energy had a return on equity of 109.48% and a net margin of 2.81%.The company had revenue of $7.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NRG Energy will post 6.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Brian Curci sold 46,976 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.84, for a total transaction of $7,461,667.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 46,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,324,588.92. This represents a 50.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $1,938,682.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 79,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,391,254.32. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 172,556 shares of company stock valued at $27,550,446. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of NRG Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,868,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,730,685,000 after buying an additional 234,666 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in NRG Energy by 178.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,676,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,222,409,000 after buying an additional 4,916,653 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in NRG Energy by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,637,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $910,324,000 after acquiring an additional 82,162 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in NRG Energy by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,880,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $790,471,000 after acquiring an additional 31,238 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors acquired a new position in NRG Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $305,817,000. 97.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.