Park Avenue Securities LLC Increases Stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 2.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,910 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $447,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NRG. Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of NRG Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $217,671,000. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of NRG Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $64,306,000. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NRG Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,773,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 65.8% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,596,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,318,000 after acquiring an additional 633,765 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NRG. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Friday, September 13th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $82.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $77.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NRG Energy news, insider Rasesh M. Patel sold 102,603 shares of NRG Energy stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $13,151,688. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NRG Energy Price Performance

NYSE NRG opened at $89.75 on Friday. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.10 and a 12 month high of $96.40. The stock has a market cap of $18.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.78 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $83.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last announced 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. NRG Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a $0.4075 dividend. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.76%.

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.