Summit Global Investments Makes New $765,000 Investment in NRG Energy, Inc. $NRG

Summit Global Investments acquired a new stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 4,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $765,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in NRG Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $225,000. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 301.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 4,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $706,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,936,000 after buying an additional 1,419 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 1.6% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 144,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,390,000 after buying an additional 2,337 shares during the period. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake in NRG Energy by 5.6% during the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 8,763 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,419,000 after buying an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy Stock Down 0.8%

NRG stock opened at $152.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.45, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.79 and a beta of 1.25. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.57 and a 52-week high of $180.54. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $158.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $159.90.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.85. NRG Energy had a net margin of 4.84% and a return on equity of 103.57%. The firm had revenue of $7.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 6.36 EPS for the current year.

NRG Energy declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, November 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the utilities provider to purchase up to 9.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 2nd. This is a positive change from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is presently 26.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 45,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 63,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,147,939.20. This represents a 41.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Brian Curci sold 46,976 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 46,113 shares in the company, valued at $7,324,588.92. The trade was a 50.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 192,556 shares of company stock valued at $30,826,846 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NRG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $202.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Zacks Research cut shares of NRG Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on NRG Energy from $198.00 to $181.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $184.91.

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.