Swiss National Bank Trims Position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Swiss National Bank lowered its holdings in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 717,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 23,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $37,084,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NRG. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in NRG Energy by 3,477.2% in the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 976,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,618,000 after acquiring an additional 949,289 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in NRG Energy by 486.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 900,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,688,000 after acquiring an additional 746,899 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in NRG Energy by 105.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,346,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,642,000 after acquiring an additional 689,941 shares in the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its stake in NRG Energy by 91.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 1,318,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,770,000 after buying an additional 629,993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of NRG Energy by 139.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 913,237 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,178,000 after purchasing an additional 532,320 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy Trading Down 5.8 %

NRG Energy stock opened at $73.40 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $68.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.03. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.62 and a 52-week high of $83.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -68.60 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.20. NRG Energy had a positive return on equity of 44.03% and a negative net margin of 0.70%. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.51 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.4075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -152.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NRG Energy news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 356,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,342,251.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on NRG shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on NRG Energy from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on NRG Energy from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.50.

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.