Eagle Global Advisors LLC Makes New $1.22 Million Investment in NRG Energy, Inc. $NRG

Eagle Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,219,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NRG. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in NRG Energy in the third quarter worth $25,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp purchased a new position in shares of NRG Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in shares of NRG Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of NRG Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NRG Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. 97.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on NRG. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on NRG Energy from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Zacks Research lowered shares of NRG Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of NRG Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NRG Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.21.

NRG Energy Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NRG Energy stock opened at $149.46 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.45, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.05. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.57 and a 52-week high of $180.54. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $161.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $160.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.34 and a beta of 1.25.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.85. NRG Energy had a net margin of 4.84% and a return on equity of 103.57%. The business had revenue of $7.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 6.36 EPS for the current year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 17th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.31%.

NRG Energy announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, November 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the utilities provider to reacquire up to 9.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NRG Energy news, VP Brian Curci sold 60,580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.71, for a total transaction of $9,796,391.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 93,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,053,422.19. This represents a 39.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 45,000 shares of NRG Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.76, for a total value of $7,144,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 63,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,147,939.20. This represents a 41.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 192,556 shares of company stock worth $30,826,846 in the last quarter. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.