13,700 Shares in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) Acquired by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 13,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $708,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NRG. CWM LLC increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 6,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 46.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 40,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,543,000 after purchasing an additional 12,791 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 91,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,517,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the period. Finally, Simplicity Solutions LLC increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 10,419 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the period. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total transaction of $3,072,668.28. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 356,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,342,251.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NRG Energy Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NRG stock opened at $72.81 on Friday. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.52 and a 1-year high of $76.54. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $65.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.28. 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 company has a market cap of $15.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -68.05 and a beta of 1.13.

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

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.4075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -152.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on NRG. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NRG Energy from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on NRG Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com upgraded NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.50.

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.