Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG)

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 20,896 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 198% compared to the typical daily volume of 7,014 call options.

Insider Transactions at NRG Energy

In related news, VP Virginia Kinney sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.52, for a total value of $2,550,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 45,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,752,554.72. This represents a 30.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NRG Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 14,662.9% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 34,582,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,051,181,000 after acquiring an additional 34,348,662 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in NRG Energy by 178.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,676,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,222,409,000 after purchasing an additional 4,916,653 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in NRG Energy in the second quarter valued at $473,391,000. Capital World Investors acquired a new position in shares of NRG Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $305,817,000. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 124.1% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,808,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $287,469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,001,672 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NRG traded down $1.31 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $111.80. 2,214,565 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,690,923. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $144.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.17, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.59 billion, a PE ratio of 29.62 and a beta of 1.22. NRG Energy has a 52 week low of $111.30 and a 52 week high of $189.96.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by ($0.20). NRG Energy had a net margin of 2.56% and a return on equity of 52.95%. The firm had revenue of $7.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.73 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. NRG Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.900-9.900 EPS. On average, analysts predict that NRG Energy will post 8.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on NRG shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Williams Trading set a $184.00 target price on NRG Energy in a report on Monday, July 6th. Raymond James Financial set a $210.00 price target on NRG Energy in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of NRG Energy in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on NRG Energy from $221.00 to $216.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.43.

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.