NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) Now Covered by The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) in a research note released on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $129.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded NRG Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $74.00 to $126.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on NRG Energy from $86.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com downgraded NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $124.00.

NRG Energy Trading Down 10.1 %

Shares of NYSE:NRG opened at $83.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $100.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.08. NRG Energy has a 52 week low of $65.11 and a 52 week high of $117.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.44 dividend. This is an increase from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 35.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NRG Energy news, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.63, for a total transaction of $1,952,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,780,794.02. This represents a 22.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 0.3% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 38,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,481,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 2,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust raised its holdings in NRG Energy by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

About NRG Energy

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.