NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) Stock Price Up 6.1%

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)’s share price rose 6.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $83.03 and last traded at $82.64. Approximately 735,724 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 3,549,876 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.89.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NRG shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on NRG Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.50.

NRG Energy Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $15.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -72.82 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.79.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.20. NRG Energy had a positive return on equity of 44.03% and a negative net margin of 0.70%. The company had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.51 billion. Research analysts forecast that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.4075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is -152.34%.

Insider Activity at NRG Energy

In other NRG Energy news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total value of $3,072,668.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 356,962 shares in the company, valued at $22,342,251.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NRG Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in NRG Energy by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 5,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $393,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of NRG Energy by 0.8% during the first quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,267 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,575,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 39,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,689,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 12,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $659,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in NRG Energy by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

About NRG Energy

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.