Fred Alger Management LLC Purchases New Position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 690,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $53,773,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of NRG Energy during the second quarter valued at $217,671,000. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC lifted its stake in NRG Energy by 253.2% during the 1st quarter. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC now owns 1,766,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,541,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266,000 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of NRG Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $64,306,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 65.8% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,596,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,318,000 after acquiring an additional 633,765 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of NRG Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,134,000. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NRG Energy news, insider Rasesh M. Patel sold 102,603 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.35, for a total transaction of $8,244,151.05. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 163,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,151,688. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NRG opened at $87.92 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.61 and a 52 week high of $90.57. The stock has a market cap of $18.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.45 and a beta of 1.10.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The utilities provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $1.82. NRG Energy had a net margin of 7.19% and a return on equity of 43.69%. The company had revenue of $6.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.