NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at BNP Paribas Exane

BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) in a research note released on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $232.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on NRG. Evercore began coverage on NRG Energy in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $215.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $153.00 target price on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $211.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of NRG Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.43.

NRG Energy Stock Up 2.8%

NRG Energy stock opened at $159.05 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.92. NRG Energy has a 12 month low of $79.57 and a 12 month high of $189.96. The firm has a market cap of $34.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.37 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.93.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.19 by ($0.15). NRG Energy had a return on equity of 109.48% and a net margin of 2.81%.The business 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 earnings per share. NRG Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that NRG Energy will post 6.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 2nd were 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 was Monday, February 2nd. This is a positive change from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NRG Energy

In related news, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 45,000 shares of NRG Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.76, for a total transaction of $7,144,200.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 63,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,147,939.20. This trade represents a 41.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Bruce Chung sold 12,383 shares of NRG Energy 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 in the company, valued at $12,391,254.32. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 177,556 shares of company stock valued at $28,333,696 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NRG. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NRG Energy during the third quarter worth about $25,000. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in NRG Energy during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of NRG Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Core Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in NRG Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its holdings in NRG Energy by 90.4% during the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About NRG Energy

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.