Morgan Stanley Boosts NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) Price Target to $63.00

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) had its price objective hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $51.00 to $63.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential downside of 5.42% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on NRG. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com upgraded NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on NRG Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.50.

NRG Energy Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NRG Energy stock opened at $66.61 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -62.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.19. NRG Energy has a 12-month low of $30.52 and a 12-month high of $68.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.51 billion. NRG Energy had a negative net margin of 0.70% and a positive return on equity of 44.03%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NRG Energy will post 5.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at NRG Energy

In other NRG Energy news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total transaction of $3,072,668.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 356,962 shares in the company, valued at $22,342,251.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NRG Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in NRG Energy by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 12,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $659,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 35.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 9,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in NRG Energy by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,603 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in NRG Energy by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 17,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $687,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

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.