Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Reduces Position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund decreased its position in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 593 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in NRG Energy by 81.1% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 305,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,816,000 after buying an additional 136,968 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in NRG Energy by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 60,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,113,000 after buying an additional 3,165 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in NRG Energy by 35.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new position in NRG Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $255,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NRG stock traded up $0.82 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $74.53. The stock had a trading volume of 438,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,546,740. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.54 billion, a PE ratio of 10.55 and a beta of 1.08. NRG Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.97 and a twelve month high of $87.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $79.18 and its 200 day moving average is $69.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.61, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $7.43 billion during the quarter. NRG Energy had a net margin of 5.76% and a return on equity of 42.60%. As a group, research analysts forecast that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.4075 per share. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Rasesh M. Patel sold 24,546 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.41, for a total transaction of $2,047,381.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 266,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,192,398.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NRG. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $73.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.14.

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.