Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Boosts Holdings in NRG Energy, Inc. $NRG

Key Points

• Teachers Retirement System of the State of Kentucky boosted its stake in NRG by 47% in Q4, adding 76,180 shares to hold 238,243 shares worth about $37.94 million (roughly 0.12% of the company).
• Research sentiment has turned positive with multiple outperform initiations and upgrades; analysts' consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $198.29.
• NRG's latest quarter missed on EPS ($1.04 vs. $1.19 est.) but revenue beat at $7.75 billion (up 13.7% y/y), and the company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.475 (annualized $1.90, ~1.2% yield; ex-dividend May 1).

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG - Free Report) by 47.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 238,243 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 76,180 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky owned approximately 0.12% of NRG Energy worth $37,937,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 3.0% during the third quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,222 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 5.0% during the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 1,798 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners raised its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 4.7% during the third quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 1,589 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, Childress Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,892 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NRG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $232.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of NRG Energy from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Evercore initiated coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $215.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $198.00 to $181.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $198.29.

NRG Energy Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of NYSE:NRG opened at $159.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $34.26 billion, a PE ratio of 40.53 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $160.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $161.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.92. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $105.30 and a 12-month high of $189.96.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $7.75 billion during 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 8.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 1st will be issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 1st. NRG Energy's payout ratio is currently 48.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NRG Energy news, VP Virginia Kinney sold 5,000 shares of NRG Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.65, for a total value of $783,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 55,495 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,693,291.75. The trade was a 8.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NRG Energy Company 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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