L & S Advisors Inc Purchases Shares of 34,792 NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

L & S Advisors Inc acquired a new position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 34,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,139,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 1,010.1% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,557,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $140,504,000 after buying an additional 1,417,057 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new position in NRG Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $94,346,000. Appaloosa LP boosted its holdings in NRG Energy by 81.5% in the 4th quarter. Appaloosa LP now owns 1,815,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $163,749,000 after purchasing an additional 815,180 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in NRG Energy by 350.4% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 904,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $81,583,000 after purchasing an additional 703,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of NRG Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $61,679,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on NRG shares. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $134.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com lowered NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on NRG Energy from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of NRG Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $74.00 to $126.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at NRG Energy

In other NRG Energy news, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 69,454 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,780,794.02. This trade represents a 22.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.41, for a total transaction of $5,484,600.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 64,448 shares in the company, valued at $5,891,191.68. The trade was a 48.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE NRG opened at $95.05 on Friday. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.11 and a 52-week high of $117.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.17. The business has a fifty day moving average of $101.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.69. The stock has a market cap of $19.36 billion, a PE ratio of 23.88, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.13.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 35.92%.

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.