18,656 Shares in NRG Energy, Inc. $NRG Acquired by Magnetar Financial LLC

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 18,656 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,996,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in NRG Energy by 41.8% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 5,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $468,000 after buying an additional 1,528 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 34.2% during the 1st quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 83,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,002,000 after acquiring an additional 21,351 shares during the period. Choreo LLC boosted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 35.6% in the first quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 8,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $793,000 after acquiring an additional 2,179 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in NRG Energy by 47.7% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,017 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $670,000 after purchasing an additional 2,267 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in NRG Energy by 29.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 92,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,839,000 after purchasing an additional 21,290 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NRG Energy

In other NRG Energy news, VP Virginia Kinney sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.82, for a total value of $3,276,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 43,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,075,549.62. This represents a 31.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Dak Liyanearachchi sold 10,672 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $1,654,160.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 48,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,528,505. This represents a 18.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NRG Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NRG opened at $159.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.99, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.88. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $79.57 and a 1-year high of $180.54. The company has a market capitalization of $30.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.04 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $166.95 and a 200-day moving average of $157.98.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.85. The business had revenue of $7.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.53 billion. NRG Energy had a return on equity of 88.22% and a net margin of 1.78%.The company’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 6.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, November 6th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the utilities provider to reacquire up to 9.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is presently 26.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NRG has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $197.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on NRG Energy from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Zacks Research downgraded NRG Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Melius Research initiated coverage on NRG Energy in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $308.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of NRG Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.31.

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.