Great Lakes Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in NRG Energy, Inc. $NRG

Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 97.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 99,533 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $409,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 0.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,411,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $865,437,000 after purchasing an additional 39,253 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 113.3% in the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,444,271 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $231,921,000 after purchasing an additional 767,014 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in NRG Energy by 2.1% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 975,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $156,601,000 after purchasing an additional 19,997 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in NRG Energy by 36.4% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 887,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $142,501,000 after buying an additional 237,009 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of NRG Energy by 492.5% during the second quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 883,781 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $141,918,000 after buying an additional 734,624 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NRG. UBS Group initiated coverage on NRG Energy in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $211.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on NRG Energy from $202.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on NRG Energy from $198.00 to $181.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $184.91.

NRG Energy Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of NRG opened at $149.44 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $157.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $160.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.34 and a beta of 1.25. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.57 and a 12-month high of $180.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.45.

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

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 2nd will be paid a $0.475 dividend. 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 1.3%. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is currently 28.40%.

NRG Energy announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, November 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the utilities provider to reacquire up to 9.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Virginia Kinney sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.82, for a total value of $3,276,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 43,191 shares in the company, valued at $7,075,549.62. This represents a 31.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian Curci sold 46,976 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.84, for a total value of $7,461,667.84. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 46,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,324,588.92. This represents a 50.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 192,556 shares of company stock worth $30,826,846 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

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.