Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC Invests $968,000 in NRG Energy, Inc. $NRG

Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,029 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $968,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi lifted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 772.5% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 4,378,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $406,342,000 after buying an additional 3,876,235 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 113.3% during the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 1,444,271 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $231,921,000 after buying an additional 767,014 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 289.1% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,023,168 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $97,672,000 after purchasing an additional 760,201 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 492.5% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 39.1% during the first quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,124,529 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $107,348,000 after purchasing an additional 316,075 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Virginia Kinney sold 20,000 shares of NRG Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.82, for a total value of $3,276,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 43,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,075,549.62. The trade was a 31.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NRG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank started coverage on NRG Energy in a report on Monday, September 22nd. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $198.00 price target on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Monday, October 20th. UBS Group started coverage on NRG Energy in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $211.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.21.

NRG Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NRG opened at $158.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.45, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $166.00 and a 200 day moving average of $159.80. The firm has a market cap of $30.28 billion, a PE ratio of 23.62 and a beta of 1.26. NRG Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $79.57 and a one year high of $180.54.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.85. NRG Energy had a net margin of 4.84% and a return on equity of 103.57%. The business had revenue of $7.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. The company’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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, November 6th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the utilities provider to reacquire up to 9.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.31%.

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.