J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Takes $352,000 Position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 5,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $352,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NRG. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in NRG Energy by 486.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 900,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,688,000 after purchasing an additional 746,899 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in NRG Energy by 14,547.8% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 515,310 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,642,000 after purchasing an additional 511,792 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in NRG Energy by 81.4% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 962,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,180,000 after purchasing an additional 432,080 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in NRG Energy in the third quarter worth about $9,687,000. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in NRG Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $12,131,000. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NRG has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on NRG Energy from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NRG Energy from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price 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 NRG Energy from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Five 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.com, NRG Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.00.

NRG Energy Price Performance

NYSE:NRG traded down $2.26 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $77.16. 2,091,753 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,193,657. NRG Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $35.97 and a one year high of $87.58. The company has a market capitalization of $16.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.93 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $79.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.61.

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

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.4075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is 23.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Rasesh M. Patel sold 24,546 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.41, for a total transaction of $2,047,381.86. Following the sale, the insider now owns 266,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,192,398.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NRG Energy Company 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.