Barclays Upgrades NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) to Overweight

Barclays upgraded shares of NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG - Free Report) to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $197.00 target price on the utilities provider's stock.

NRG has been the topic of several other reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of NRG Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NRG Energy from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $167.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on NRG Energy from $113.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on NRG Energy from $138.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $151.80.

NRG Energy Price Performance

NYSE NRG traded up $1.25 during trading on Thursday, hitting $162.79. 9,662,378 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,986,518. The company has a market capitalization of $31.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $140.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.61. NRG Energy has a 12-month low of $65.11 and a 12-month high of $168.53.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The utilities provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 73.78% and a net margin of 4.66%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.31 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that NRG Energy will post 6.36 EPS for the current year.

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 1st. NRG Energy's payout ratio is currently 28.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NRG Energy news, Director Kevin Howell sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.50, for a total value of $7,725,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,427 shares in the company, valued at $8,563,471.50. This represents a 47.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.86% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of NRG Energy

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 468.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,757,735 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $454,173,000 after buying an additional 6,049,247 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in NRG Energy by 772.5% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 4,378,022 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $406,342,000 after acquiring an additional 3,876,235 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its holdings in NRG Energy by 169.5% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,817,018 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $269,230,000 after acquiring an additional 1,771,829 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in NRG Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $93,075,000. Finally, Appaloosa LP increased its position in NRG Energy by 81.5% during the 4th quarter. Appaloosa LP now owns 1,815,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $163,749,000 after purchasing an additional 815,180 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company's stock.

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.