MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. Increases Position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 67.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,109 shares during the quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $1,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Banco Santander S.A. grew its stake in NRG Energy by 0.3% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in NRG Energy by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,282,672 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,943,000 after purchasing an additional 316,445 shares during the last quarter. Appaloosa LP grew its stake in NRG Energy by 81.5% during the 4th quarter. Appaloosa LP now owns 1,815,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $163,749,000 after purchasing an additional 815,180 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in NRG Energy by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,414,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,614,000 after purchasing an additional 56,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in NRG Energy by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 1,374,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $123,984,000 after purchasing an additional 41,094 shares during the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NRG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on NRG Energy from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on NRG Energy from $113.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. StockNews.com downgraded NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on NRG Energy in a research note on Friday, April 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $129.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on NRG Energy from $86.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.75.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

NYSE NRG opened at $159.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.11, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.00. NRG Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.11 and a twelve month high of $161.78. 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 50-day moving average of $108.67 and a 200 day moving average of $102.07.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 12th. The utilities provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $1.90. The company had revenue of $8.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.28 billion. NRG Energy had a return on equity of 48.96% and a net margin of 3.43%. NRG Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 6.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is 28.39%.

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.