NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 919 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in NRG Energy were worth $1,161,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of NRG Energy by 81.1% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 305,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,816,000 after acquiring an additional 136,968 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its stake in NRG Energy by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 60,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,113,000 after purchasing an additional 3,165 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 35.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 16,162 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $836,000 after buying an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in NRG Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $255,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on NRG shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on NRG Energy from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on NRG Energy from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NRG Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.14.

NRG Energy Price Performance

NRG traded up $0.82 during trading on Monday, reaching $74.53. 438,111 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,546,740. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.97 and a 1 year high of $87.58. The company has a market capitalization of $15.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.55 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $79.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.61, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.80 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $7.43 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be issued a $0.4075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $1.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.09%.

Insider Activity at NRG Energy

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

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.