NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) Price Target Lowered to $200.00 at Barclays

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) had its price target decreased by Barclays from $203.00 to $200.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

NRG has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on NRG Energy in a research note on Friday, March 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $197.00 target price for the company. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on NRG Energy in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $232.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group began coverage on NRG Energy in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $211.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded NRG Energy from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded NRG Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.21.

NRG Energy Stock Up 3.5%

NRG Energy stock opened at $146.24 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.38 billion, a PE ratio of 37.12 and a beta of 1.26. NRG Energy has a 12-month low of $79.57 and a 12-month high of $189.96. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $158.71 and its 200 day moving average is $161.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.92.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last posted 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 analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NRG Energy will post 6.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This is an increase from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 2nd. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Bruce Chung sold 12,383 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.56, for a total value of $1,938,682.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 79,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,391,254.32. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $7,144,200.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 63,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,147,939.20. The trade was a 41.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 177,556 shares of company stock valued at $28,333,696. Company insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NRG Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NRG. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in NRG Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NRG Energy during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of NRG Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Core Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in NRG Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp increased 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 during the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.