Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC Buys New Position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC bought a new stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 11,298 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,078,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Banco Santander S.A. increased its stake in 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 during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in NRG Energy by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,282,672 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $205,943,000 after purchasing an additional 316,445 shares during the period. Appaloosa LP increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 81.5% during the fourth quarter. Appaloosa LP now owns 1,815,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $163,749,000 after buying an additional 815,180 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,414,186 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $127,614,000 after buying an additional 56,944 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 1,374,245 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $123,984,000 after buying an additional 41,094 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.72% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NRG shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $113.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They set a "buy" rating and a $129.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James started coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Friday. They set a "strong-buy" rating and a $195.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $86.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $167.00 price target (up from $115.00) on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $146.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kevin Howell sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.50, for a total value of $7,725,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 55,427 shares in the company, valued at $8,563,471.50. This trade represents a 47.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NRG stock traded up $0.81 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $151.81. The stock had a trading volume of 2,257,409 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,989,128. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock's 50 day moving average is $130.04 and its 200 day moving average is $109.62. NRG Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.11 and a twelve month high of $162.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.68 billion, a PE ratio of 38.14, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.13.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The utilities provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $1.90. The firm had revenue of $8.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.28 billion. NRG Energy had a return on equity of 48.96% and a net margin of 3.43%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st were given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 1st. NRG Energy's payout ratio is 28.39%.

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.