Profund Advisors LLC Raises Stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Profund Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 36.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,085 shares during the quarter. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. LifeSteps Financial Inc. purchased a new position in NRG Energy in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of NRG Energy during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of NRG Energy in the first quarter worth about $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 76.1% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NRG Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NRG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Friday, September 13th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $82.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Rasesh M. Patel sold 102,603 shares of NRG Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.35, for a total transaction of $8,244,151.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 163,680 shares in the company, valued at $13,151,688. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NRG opened at $87.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.11. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.61 and a 1 year high of $90.57. The company’s 50-day moving average is $79.08 and its 200 day moving average is $76.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.45 and a beta of 1.10.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The utilities provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $1.82. The company had revenue of $6.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.32 billion. NRG Energy had a return on equity of 43.69% and a net margin of 7.19%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current year.

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $0.4075 per share. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is currently 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.