Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Grows Position in NRG Energy, Inc. $NRG

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 78.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 295,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 129,676 shares during the quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $28,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in NRG Energy by 23.8% in the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 672 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in NRG Energy by 99.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 413,911 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,512,000 after purchasing an additional 206,096 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in NRG Energy by 54.4% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in NRG Energy by 2.7% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 23,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,265,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the period. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in NRG Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $276,000. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on NRG shares. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $138.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Melius Research began coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $308.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of NRG Energy in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set a “strong-buy” rating and a $195.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.92.

NRG Energy Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE NRG opened at $147.74 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $153.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $132.53. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $76.13 and a 52 week high of $175.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.99. The stock has a market cap of $28.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.85, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.17.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by ($0.04). NRG Energy had a return on equity of 88.22% and a net margin of 1.78%.The firm had revenue of $6.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 6.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is presently 79.64%.

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.