NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on NRG Energy, with 10 buy ratings, one strong-buy rating and four holds. The average 12-month price target is approximately $199.43, well above the reported share price of $119.05.
• NRG’s second-quarter revenue rose 11% year over year to $7.48 billion and exceeded estimates, but adjusted EPS of $1.49 missed the $1.69 consensus and declined from $1.73 a year earlier, contributing to a sharp share-price selloff.
• The company is pursuing a customer-backed 1.2-gigawatt Texas data-center power project valued at roughly $3.2 billion, while continuing to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.475, equivalent to a 1.6% annualized yield.

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the fifteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $199.4286.

Several analysts have weighed in on NRG shares. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Wednesday. Siebert Williams Shank began coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Monday, July 6th. They set a "buy" rating and a $184.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $221.00 to $216.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 target price on NRG Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $214.00 target price on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Thursday.

NRG Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NRG opened at $119.05 on Friday. NRG Energy has a fifty-two week low of $112.50 and a fifty-two week high of $189.96. The company has a market cap of $25.12 billion, a PE ratio of 31.50 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.17, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $147.26.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.69 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $7.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.31 billion. NRG Energy had a net margin of 2.56% and a return on equity of 52.95%. The business's revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.73 EPS. NRG Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.900-9.900 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that NRG Energy will post 8.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. NRG Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.26%.

Key Stories Impacting NRG Energy

Here are the key news stories impacting NRG Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NRG is pursuing a 1.2-gigawatt Texas data-center power project valued at approximately $3.2 billion. The project is designed around customer-backed demand and protected returns, potentially creating more predictable cash flows and supporting the company’s growth strategy. NRG Energy Q2 Earnings Call Focuses on Customer-Backed Power
• Positive Sentiment: A Seeking Alpha analysis upgraded NRG’s rating, citing the company’s aggressive gigawatt-scale expansion and exposure to rising electricity demand from data centers. NRG Energy: Aggressive GW Expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank maintained a “sector outperform” rating despite lowering its price target from $226 to $211, implying substantial upside based on the cited current price. The target reduction nevertheless reflects more cautious near-term expectations.
• Neutral Sentiment: NRG’s “bring your own power” approach seeks to help large customers secure electricity directly, but the strategy depends on the company’s ability to obtain equipment, labor and infrastructure efficiently. The POWER Interview: NRG’s Case for Bring Your Own Power
• Negative Sentiment: Second-quarter adjusted EPS was $1.49, below the $1.69 analyst consensus and down from $1.73 a year earlier. Revenue reached $7.48 billion, exceeding estimates and rising 11% year over year, but the earnings shortfall drove investor disappointment.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports attributed the selloff to the earnings miss, with NRG falling to a new 12-month low and remaining close to its 52-week low. The reaction indicates that investors are currently prioritizing near-term earnings execution over the company’s longer-term data-center opportunity. Why Shares of NRG Energy Are Crashing This Week

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Virginia Kinney sold 20,000 shares of NRG Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.52, for a total transaction of $2,550,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 45,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,752,554.72. The trade was a 30.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NRG Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in NRG Energy by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,868,408 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,730,685,000 after acquiring an additional 234,666 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 178.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,676,513 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,222,409,000 after purchasing an additional 4,916,653 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,637,726 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $910,324,000 after purchasing an additional 82,162 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in NRG Energy by 0.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,880,954 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $790,471,000 after purchasing an additional 31,238 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in NRG Energy in the second quarter valued at $473,391,000. 97.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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