Share Buyback Program Authorized by NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) Board

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, November 6th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the utilities provider to reacquire up to 9.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

NRG Energy Trading Down 2.5%

NRG traded down $4.30 on Thursday, reaching $168.89. 3,293,149 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,968,022. The company’s 50 day moving average is $163.80 and its 200-day moving average is $153.28. The company has a market cap of $32.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.42 and a beta of 1.16. NRG Energy has a twelve month low of $79.57 and a twelve month high of $180.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.99, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.93.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.85. The firm had revenue of $7.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.53 billion. NRG Energy had a net margin of 1.78% and a return on equity of 88.22%. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. Equities analysts predict that NRG Energy will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NRG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Melius Research initiated 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. Melius initiated 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. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $197.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $133.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of NRG Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NRG Energy news, VP Dak Liyanearachchi sold 10,672 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $1,654,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 48,571 shares in the company, valued at $7,528,505. This represents a 18.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.