Quadrature Capital Ltd Buys New Stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 8,774 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $454,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NRG. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in NRG Energy by 1,005.5% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted 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. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. bought a new position in NRG Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in NRG Energy by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in NRG Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $103,000. 97.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on NRG shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on NRG Energy from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. StockNews.com upgraded NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Citigroup lifted their target price on NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NRG Energy from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.00.

Insider Activity at NRG Energy

In related news, insider Rasesh M. Patel sold 24,546 shares of NRG Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.41, for a total transaction of $2,047,381.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 266,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,192,398.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NRG stock opened at $80.02 on Monday. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.40 and a 1-year high of $87.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.61. The company has a market capitalization of $16.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.33 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.32.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.12). NRG Energy had a net margin of 5.76% and a return on equity of 42.60%. The business had revenue of $7.43 billion for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.4075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 23.09%.

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.