NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) Hits New 12-Month High at $76.54

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $76.54 and last traded at $76.05, with a volume of 403343 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $73.93.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NRG has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI upped their price target on NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup raised their target price on NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. TheStreet raised shares of NRG Energy from a "c+" rating to a "b" rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, NRG Energy currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $59.50.

NRG Energy Stock Down 1.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.02. The firm has a market cap of $15.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -70.09 and a beta of 1.13.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.51 billion. NRG Energy had a positive return on equity of 44.03% and a negative net margin of 0.70%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 5.36 EPS for the current year.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 1st were paid a $0.4075 dividend. This represents a $1.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 31st. This is an increase from NRG Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. NRG Energy's payout ratio is -152.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NRG Energy

In other NRG Energy news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total transaction of $3,072,668.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 356,962 shares in the company, valued at $22,342,251.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.61% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of NRG Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NRG. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,267 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,575,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of NRG Energy by 0.5% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 39,723 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,689,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 12,749 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $659,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in NRG Energy by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 865 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd raised its holdings in NRG Energy by 2.5% during the first quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 9,537 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.