NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.41

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of 0.4075 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%.

NRG Energy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 5 consecutive years. NRG Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 23.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect NRG Energy to earn $6.32 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.63 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.8%.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

NYSE NRG opened at $73.42 on Thursday. NRG Energy has a 1-year low of $30.52 and a 1-year high of $76.54. The company has a market cap of $15.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -68.62 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $62.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.67.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.20. NRG Energy had a positive return on equity of 44.03% and a negative net margin of 0.70%. The business had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.51 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that NRG Energy will post 5.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 stock was sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total value of $3,072,668.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now 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 is available through this link. 0.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NRG Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Permian Investment Partners LP lifted its stake in NRG Energy by 1.4% in the first quarter. Permian Investment Partners LP now owns 5,326,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $204,336,000 after buying an additional 73,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in NRG Energy by 1.3% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,142,403 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $177,483,000 after buying an additional 64,942 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in NRG Energy by 145.4% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,746,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $182,064,000 after buying an additional 2,812,434 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in NRG Energy by 25.7% in the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 4,356,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $162,899,000 after buying an additional 891,443 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in NRG Energy by 2,317.0% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 1,759,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $90,969,000 after buying an additional 1,686,761 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on NRG Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on NRG Energy from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.50.

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.