Strs Ohio Buys 14,812 Shares of NRG Energy, Inc. $NRG

Strs Ohio boosted its stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 312.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,549 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,812 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $3,166,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 3.0% during the third quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,222 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Olympiad Research LP bought a new stake in NRG Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $285,000. CNB Bank purchased a new stake in NRG Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $82,000. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of NRG Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,199,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 109,478 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,730,000 after buying an additional 4,910 shares during the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on NRG Energy from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $198.00 target price on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Zacks Research lowered shares of NRG Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “underperform” rating on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Thursday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $186.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at NRG Energy

In related news, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.76, for a total transaction of $7,144,200.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 63,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,147,939.20. The trade was a 41.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian Curci sold 46,976 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 46,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,324,588.92. This represents a 50.46% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 192,556 shares of company stock worth $30,826,846. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NRG Energy Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE NRG opened at $149.97 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $28.74 billion, a PE ratio of 22.42 and a beta of 1.25. NRG Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $79.57 and a one year high of $180.54. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $159.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $159.84.

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

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd will be paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 2nd. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. This is a positive change from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.31%.

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

NRG Energy 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.