NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) Price Target Raised to $165.00

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) had its target price boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $140.00 to $165.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on NRG. Evercore ISI upgraded NRG Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $74.00 to $126.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on NRG Energy from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup upped their price objective on NRG Energy from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on NRG Energy from $86.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded NRG Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $93.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.14.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:NRG opened at $105.73 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $102.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $93.72. The company has a market cap of $20.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.57, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.17. NRG Energy has a fifty-two week low of $54.12 and a fifty-two week high of $117.26.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is an increase from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NRG Energy

In other news, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.63, for a total transaction of $1,952,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,454 shares in the company, valued at $6,780,794.02. This trade represents a 22.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.41, for a total value of $5,484,600.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,891,191.68. This trade represents a 48.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NRG Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of NRG Energy by 6.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,399,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $494,225,000 after acquiring an additional 313,478 shares during the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 2,828,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $255,142,000 after purchasing an additional 7,500 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 7.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,663,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $242,639,000 after purchasing an additional 182,481 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,282,672 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,943,000 after purchasing an additional 316,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Appaloosa LP increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 81.5% in the fourth quarter. Appaloosa LP now owns 1,815,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $163,749,000 after purchasing an additional 815,180 shares in the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.