Highland Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Highland Capital Management LLC increased its position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 154,150 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,120 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $7,970,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new position in shares of NRG Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in NRG Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in NRG Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in NRG Energy by 4,030.0% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. increased its position in NRG Energy by 362.5% during the 4th quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,355 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 1,062 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NRG Energy

In related news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of NRG Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total transaction of $3,072,668.28. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 356,962 shares in the company, valued at $22,342,251.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on NRG shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on NRG Energy from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. TheStreet raised NRG Energy from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on NRG Energy from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com raised NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on NRG Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.50.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NRG opened at $66.61 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49. NRG Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $30.52 and a one year high of $68.57. The business has a fifty day moving average of $56.86 and a 200 day moving average of $49.19.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.20. NRG Energy had a positive return on equity of 44.03% and a negative net margin of 0.70%. The company had revenue of $6.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.51 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 5.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 1st were given a dividend of $0.4075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 31st. This is an increase from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is -152.34%.

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.