Wells Fargo & Company Raises NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) Price Target to $85.00

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) had its price target boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $78.00 to $85.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on NRG. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com upgraded NRG Energy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. TheStreet upgraded NRG Energy from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Citigroup increased their price target on NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on NRG Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $59.50.

NRG Energy Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NRG stock opened at $67.69 on Monday. NRG Energy has a 1 year low of $30.52 and a 1 year high of $68.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.32. The company has a market cap of $14.54 billion, a PE ratio of -63.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.11.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.20. NRG Energy had a positive return on equity of 44.03% and a negative net margin of 0.70%. The business had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.51 billion. Research analysts predict that NRG Energy will post 5.66 earnings per share for the current year.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 1st were issued a dividend of $0.4075 per share. This is an increase from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 31st. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -152.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of NRG Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total value of $3,072,668.28. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 356,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,342,251.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NRG Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NRG. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 145.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,746,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,064,000 after purchasing an additional 2,812,434 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 2,317.0% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 1,759,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $90,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,686,761 shares in the last quarter. Natixis acquired a new stake in shares of NRG Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $59,850,000. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in NRG Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $49,072,000. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP lifted its position in NRG Energy by 326.7% during the 1st quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 1,600,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,864,000 after acquiring an additional 1,225,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

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.