Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Buys 8,171 Shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 42.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,171 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $2,491,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NRG. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in NRG Energy by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,399,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $494,225,000 after acquiring an additional 313,478 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A. raised its position in shares of NRG Energy by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 2,820,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $256,948,000 after purchasing an additional 24,834 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,663,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $242,639,000 after buying an additional 182,481 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in NRG Energy by 1,010.1% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in NRG Energy by 52.2% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,330,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $121,227,000 after buying an additional 456,573 shares in the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on NRG shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NRG Energy from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of NRG Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $93.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded NRG Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $126.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NRG Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.43.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of the 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 approximately $6,780,794.02. This represents a 22.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 64,448 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

NRG Energy stock opened at $110.45 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $97.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $88.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57. The company has a market cap of $22.37 billion, a PE ratio of 27.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.15. NRG Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $51.26 and a twelve month high of $115.38.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a boost from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is presently 40.95%.

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.