Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Raises Stake in NRG Energy, Inc. $NRG

Key Points

• Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in NRG by 5.8% in Q4, adding 21,922 shares to hold 396,729 shares valued at about $63.18 million (≈0.21% of the company).
• Q4 results: NRG reported $1.04 EPS (missing the $1.19 consensus) while revenue of $7.75 billion beat estimates of $6.68 billion and rose 13.7% year-over-year.
• Analyst outlook: The consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $198.21, and several firms recently issued buy/outperform ratings with price targets roughly between $190 and $232.

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG - Free Report) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 396,729 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 21,922 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 0.21% of NRG Energy worth $63,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in NRG Energy by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,880,954 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $790,471,000 after purchasing an additional 31,238 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in NRG Energy by 42.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,368,824 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $221,671,000 after purchasing an additional 409,776 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in NRG Energy by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,225,329 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $198,442,000 after purchasing an additional 86,528 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its position in NRG Energy by 47.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 958,982 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $155,307,000 after purchasing an additional 309,989 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its position in NRG Energy by 492.5% in the 2nd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 883,781 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $141,918,000 after purchasing an additional 734,624 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company's stock.

NRG Energy Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NRG stock opened at $170.91 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.92, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The company has a market cap of $36.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.38 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $161.33. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $90.84 and a 1-year high of $189.96.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.19 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $7.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. NRG Energy had a return on equity of 109.48% and a net margin of 2.81%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.56 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 6.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 2nd. This is a positive change from NRG Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. NRG Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NRG Energy

In other news, VP Virginia Kinney sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.65, for a total transaction of $783,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 55,495 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,693,291.75. This represents a 8.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded NRG Energy from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on NRG Energy in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $232.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Evercore assumed coverage on NRG Energy in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $215.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on NRG Energy in a research report on Friday, March 6th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $197.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $198.21.

NRG Energy Profile

NRG Energy NYSE: NRG is a U.S.-based integrated power company headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company develops, owns and operates a diversified portfolio of power generation assets and participates in wholesale and retail energy markets. NRG supplies electricity to utilities, commercial and industrial customers, and retail consumers, while also providing energy-related products and services designed to manage consumption and support reliability.

NRG's generation mix includes conventional thermal plants as well as renewable and distributed energy resources.

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