Avestar Capital LLC Makes New Investment in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Avestar Capital LLC bought a new position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $265,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 104.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 73,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,000,000 after purchasing an additional 37,750 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 65.8% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,596,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,318,000 after purchasing an additional 633,765 shares during the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of NRG Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $746,000. Bank of Hawaii increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 95.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Hawaii now owns 15,685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,429,000 after purchasing an additional 7,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 169.3% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 263,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,042,000 after purchasing an additional 165,912 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at NRG Energy

In related news, insider Rasesh M. Patel sold 102,603 shares of NRG Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.35, for a total transaction of $8,244,151.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 163,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,151,688. This trade represents a 38.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on NRG shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of NRG Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $93.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $77.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.71.

NRG Energy Price Performance

Shares of NRG Energy stock opened at $98.89 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.10. NRG Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.23 and a fifty-two week high of $102.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $90.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.37. The company has a market cap of $20.03 billion, a PE ratio of 24.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.10.

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a dividend of $0.4075 per share. This represents a $1.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is 40.95%.

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.