Short Interest in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) Drops By 19.2%

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 6,960,000 shares, a drop of 19.2% from the February 13th total of 8,610,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 3.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $134.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $86.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NRG Energy news, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.63, for a total value of $1,952,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 69,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,780,794.02. The trade was a 22.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.41, for a total transaction of $5,484,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 64,448 shares in the company, valued at $5,891,191.68. This trade represents a 48.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of NRG Energy

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of NRG Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $549,000. Meyer Handelman Co. grew its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 43.8% in the fourth quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 78,982 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,126,000 after buying an additional 24,062 shares in the last quarter. Luxor Capital Group LP grew its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 47.8% in the third quarter. Luxor Capital Group LP now owns 520,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,426,000 after buying an additional 168,267 shares in the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 25.1% in the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 50,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,557,000 after buying an additional 10,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Hawaii lifted its holdings in NRG Energy by 95.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Hawaii now owns 15,685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,429,000 after purchasing an additional 7,662 shares during the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NRG Energy Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE:NRG traded up $3.62 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $98.30. The stock had a trading volume of 2,337,427 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,938,558. The firm has a market cap of $20.02 billion, a PE ratio of 24.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.72. 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 has a twelve month low of $65.11 and a twelve month high of $117.26.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. This is a boost from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.92%.

NRG Energy Company 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.