Schroder Investment Management Group Boosts Holdings in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 34.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 684,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 174,544 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group owned approximately 0.34% of NRG Energy worth $63,065,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NRG. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in NRG Energy by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,399,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $494,225,000 after buying an additional 313,478 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. increased its position in shares of NRG Energy by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 2,828,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $255,142,000 after purchasing an additional 7,500 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 182,481 shares in the last quarter. Appaloosa LP boosted its stake in NRG Energy by 81.5% during the 4th quarter. Appaloosa LP now owns 1,815,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $163,749,000 after purchasing an additional 815,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 1,010.1% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,557,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $140,504,000 after buying an additional 1,417,057 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NRG Energy news, 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 transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.41, for a total value of $5,484,600.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,891,191.68. This represents a 48.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on NRG shares. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $134.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded NRG Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $74.00 to $126.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on NRG Energy from $86.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on NRG Energy from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on NRG Energy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.29.

NRG Energy Price Performance

NYSE:NRG opened at $95.62 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.11 and a 52 week high of $117.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $101.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.91.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.84%. This is a boost from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.92%.

About NRG Energy

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.