NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) Shares Purchased by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 182,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,798 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.09% of NRG Energy worth $16,504,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in NRG Energy by 6.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,399,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $494,225,000 after buying an additional 313,478 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 7,500 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in NRG Energy by 7.4% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,663,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $242,639,000 after buying an additional 182,481 shares in the last quarter. Appaloosa LP lifted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in NRG Energy by 1,010.1% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,557,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $140,504,000 after buying an additional 1,417,057 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.41, for a total transaction of $5,484,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,891,191.68. The trade was a 48.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.63, for a total value of $1,952,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,780,794.02. The trade was a 22.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NRG shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on NRG Energy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NRG Energy from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded NRG Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $74.00 to $126.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com downgraded NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded NRG Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $93.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.29.

NRG Energy Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE NRG opened at $94.57 on Wednesday. NRG Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $63.84 and a twelve month high of $117.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.26 billion, a PE ratio of 23.76, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.13.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is presently 35.92%.

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.