Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Invests $210,000 in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. purchased a new stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 4,066 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NRG. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 1,005.5% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the last quarter. Hedeker Wealth LLC lifted its position in NRG Energy by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Hedeker Wealth LLC now owns 63,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,306,000 after buying an additional 5,308 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in NRG Energy by 1,398.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 21,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,087,000 after buying an additional 19,630 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in NRG Energy during the fourth quarter valued at $255,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 16,162 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $836,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on NRG. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup upped their target price on NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on NRG Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on NRG Energy from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded NRG Energy from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Friday, December 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NRG Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.50.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

NRG stock opened at $74.54 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.52. NRG Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.52 and a twelve month high of $76.54. The firm has a market cap of $16.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -69.66 and a beta of 1.13.

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

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 1st were paid a dividend of $0.4075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 31st. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. This is a positive change from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -152.34%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total transaction of $3,072,668.28. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 356,962 shares in the company, valued at $22,342,251.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.