Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG)

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 30,502 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 732% compared to the average volume of 3,664 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NRG Energy news, VP Virginia Kinney sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.52, for a total value of $2,550,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 45,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,752,554.72. This trade represents a 30.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.43% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NRG Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,868,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,730,685,000 after acquiring an additional 234,666 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 178.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,676,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,222,409,000 after acquiring an additional 4,916,653 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in NRG Energy by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,637,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $910,324,000 after acquiring an additional 82,162 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,880,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $790,471,000 after acquiring an additional 31,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 16.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,192,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $320,396,000 after acquiring an additional 313,410 shares during the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NRG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on NRG Energy in a research report on Friday, March 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $197.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research raised NRG Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $232.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $210.00 price objective on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $203.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.92.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NRG opened at $150.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 176.72 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.68, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.78. NRG Energy has a one year low of $120.11 and a one year high of $189.96. The business has a fifty day moving average of $139.97 and a 200 day moving average of $151.90.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.78 by ($0.30). NRG Energy had a return on equity of 70.67% and a net margin of 0.74%.The firm had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. NRG Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.900-9.900 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NRG Energy will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 1st were issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 1st. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 223.53%.

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.