Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) Stock Price

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) had its price objective hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $120.00 to $130.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on NRG Energy in a research note on Friday, September 13th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $82.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on NRG Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on NRG Energy from $77.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.75.

NRG Energy Trading Down 3.6 %

NYSE:NRG opened at $86.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $17.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.45 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.95. NRG Energy has a 12-month low of $41.73 and a 12-month high of $96.40.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The utilities provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $1.82. NRG Energy had a return on equity of 43.69% and a net margin of 7.19%. The firm had revenue of $6.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that NRG Energy will post 6.17 EPS for the current year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a dividend of $0.4075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. This represents a $1.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is 17.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Rasesh M. Patel sold 102,603 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.35, for a total value of $8,244,151.05. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 163,680 shares in the company, valued at $13,151,688. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of NRG Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 74.7% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NRG Energy in the third quarter valued at $35,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt purchased a new stake in shares of NRG Energy in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NRG Energy in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 76.1% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About NRG Energy

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.