NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) Sets New 52-Week High at $76.54

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $76.54 and last traded at $76.05, with a volume of 403343 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $73.93.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NRG shares. StockNews.com upgraded NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on NRG Energy from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NRG Energy from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, TheStreet raised NRG Energy from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.50.

NRG Energy Stock Up 2.2 %

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $62.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -69.66 and a beta of 1.13.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.51 billion. NRG Energy had a positive return on equity of 44.03% and a negative net margin of 0.70%. On average, equities analysts expect that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current year.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 1st were issued a $0.4075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 31st. This is a positive change from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently -152.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total value of $3,072,668.28. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 356,962 shares in the company, valued at $22,342,251.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NRG Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 2.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,729,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $220,696,000 after buying an additional 156,974 shares during the last quarter. Permian Investment Partners LP boosted its position in NRG Energy by 1.4% during the first quarter. Permian Investment Partners LP now owns 5,326,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $204,336,000 after purchasing an additional 73,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NRG Energy by 1.3% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,142,403 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,483,000 after purchasing an additional 64,942 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in NRG Energy by 25.7% during the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 4,356,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $162,899,000 after purchasing an additional 891,443 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in NRG Energy by 8.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,401,396 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,502,000 after purchasing an additional 197,122 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

About NRG Energy

NRG Energy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy and home services company in the United States and Canada. It operates through Texas; East; West/Services/Other; Vivint Smart Home; and Corporate Activities segments. The company produces and sells electricity generated using coal, oil, solar, and battery storage; natural gas; and a cloud-based home platform, including hardware, software, sales, installation, customer service, technical support, and professional monitoring solutions.