HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Buys Shares of 3,916 NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its position in NRG Energy by 3,477.2% during the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 976,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,618,000 after purchasing an additional 949,289 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in NRG Energy by 486.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 900,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,688,000 after buying an additional 746,899 shares during the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP boosted its stake in NRG Energy by 91.6% in the third quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 1,318,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,770,000 after buying an additional 629,993 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in NRG Energy by 14,547.8% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 515,310 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,642,000 after acquiring an additional 511,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new position in NRG Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $9,687,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on NRG. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on NRG Energy from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on NRG Energy from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, 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 note on Tuesday, May 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.00.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:NRG opened at $80.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.61. NRG Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.40 and a twelve month high of $87.58. The stock has a market cap of $16.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.33 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.20.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.12). NRG Energy had a net margin of 5.76% and a return on equity of 42.60%. The company had revenue of $7.43 billion for the quarter. As a group, research analysts predict that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st were given a $0.4075 dividend. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 30th. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Rasesh M. Patel sold 24,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.41, for a total value of $2,047,381.86. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 266,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,192,398.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.