NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) Shares Bought by Leavell Investment Management Inc.

Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 23.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,150 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 795 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,399,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $494,225,000 after buying an additional 313,478 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A. boosted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 2,820,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $256,948,000 after buying an additional 24,834 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,663,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $242,639,000 after buying an additional 182,481 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 1,010.1% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,557,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $140,504,000 after buying an additional 1,417,057 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 52.2% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,330,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $121,227,000 after buying an additional 456,573 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.41, for a total transaction 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 represents a 48.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.63, for a total value of $1,952,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,454 shares in the company, valued at $6,780,794.02. This represents a 22.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on NRG Energy from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup boosted their target price on NRG Energy from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded NRG Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $126.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded NRG Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $93.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on NRG Energy from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.43.

NRG Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NRG opened at $107.64 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57. NRG Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $51.42 and a twelve month high of $115.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $99.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.30. The stock has a market cap of $21.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.15.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. This is a positive change from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is presently 44.22%.

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.