NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) to Issue $0.41 Quarterly Dividend

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of 0.4075 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th.

NRG Energy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 5 consecutive years. NRG Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 23.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect NRG Energy to earn $6.27 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.63 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.0%.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:NRG opened at $72.81 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $65.17 and its 200-day moving average is $54.37. NRG Energy has a 52-week low of $30.52 and a 52-week high of $76.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.02. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.51 billion. NRG Energy had a negative net margin of 0.70% and a positive return on equity of 44.03%. Equities research analysts anticipate that NRG Energy will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NRG shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were 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 $22,342,251.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy Company Profile

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.