J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $536,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 885.4% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 237,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,073,000 after buying an additional 213,347 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 148.6% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 21,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,477,000 after buying an additional 13,040 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 104.5% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 73,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,000,000 after buying an additional 37,750 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 65.8% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,596,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,318,000 after buying an additional 633,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in NRG Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $746,000. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NRG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $77.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Friday, September 13th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $82.00 target price on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NRG Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Rasesh M. Patel sold 102,603 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 163,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,151,688. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE NRG opened at $88.45 on Thursday. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $41.57 and a 12 month high of $96.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $86.00 and a 200-day moving average of $80.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $18.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.64 and a beta of 1.10.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The utilities provider reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $1.82. The company had revenue of $6.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.32 billion. NRG Energy had a net margin of 7.19% and a return on equity of 43.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current year.

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a dividend of $0.4075 per share. This represents a $1.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.76%.

NRG Energy Profile

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.