Navellier & Associates Inc. Grows Stock Position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Navellier & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 24,009 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,141 shares during the quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $2,166,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in NRG Energy by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,399,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $494,225,000 after acquiring an additional 313,478 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A. boosted its holdings in NRG Energy by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 2,820,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $256,948,000 after acquiring an additional 24,834 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in NRG Energy by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,663,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $242,639,000 after acquiring an additional 182,481 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in NRG Energy by 1,010.1% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,557,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $140,504,000 after acquiring an additional 1,417,057 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in NRG Energy by 52.2% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,330,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $121,227,000 after acquiring an additional 456,573 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NRG Energy news, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,780,794.02. This trade represents a 22.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.41, for a total value of $5,484,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 64,448 shares in the company, valued at $5,891,191.68. This represents a 48.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NRG opened at $105.96 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $100.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.60. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.49 and a 12-month high of $115.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.46 billion, a PE ratio of 26.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on NRG. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on NRG Energy from $86.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup increased their target price on NRG Energy from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on NRG Energy from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on NRG Energy from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded NRG Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $74.00 to $126.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NRG Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.71.

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.