Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP Sells 3,816 Shares of NRG Energy, Inc. $NRG

Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lessened its stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 38,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,816 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $6,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of NRG Energy by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,411,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $865,437,000 after buying an additional 39,253 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in NRG Energy by 468.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,757,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $454,173,000 after acquiring an additional 6,049,247 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in NRG Energy by 772.5% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 4,378,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $406,342,000 after purchasing an additional 3,876,235 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in NRG Energy by 169.5% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,817,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $269,230,000 after purchasing an additional 1,771,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Appaloosa LP increased its position in shares of NRG Energy by 12.9% during the first quarter. Appaloosa LP now owns 2,050,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $195,693,000 after purchasing an additional 235,000 shares in the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NRG Energy Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NRG stock opened at $163.41 on Tuesday. NRG Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $79.57 and a fifty-two week high of $180.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.31 billion, a PE ratio of 73.94 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.99, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $166.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.94.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.85. NRG Energy had a return on equity of 88.22% and a net margin of 1.78%.The firm had revenue of $7.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.90 earnings per share. NRG Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current year.

NRG Energy announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, November 6th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the utilities provider to reacquire up to 9.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 17th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.31%.

Insider Transactions at NRG Energy

In other NRG Energy news, VP Dak Liyanearachchi sold 10,672 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total transaction of $1,654,160.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 48,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,528,505. This trade represents a 18.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on NRG Energy from $197.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank started coverage on NRG Energy in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target 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 downgraded shares of NRG Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, NRG Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.31.

NRG Energy 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.