Venturi Wealth Management LLC Purchases 175 Shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 31.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $66,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in NRG Energy by 6.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,399,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $494,225,000 after buying an additional 313,478 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. grew its position in NRG Energy by 0.9% during the third quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 2,820,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $256,948,000 after buying an additional 24,834 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in NRG Energy by 7.4% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,663,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $242,639,000 after buying an additional 182,481 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in NRG Energy by 52.2% during the third 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. Institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NRG. Citigroup increased their price target on NRG Energy from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised NRG Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $93.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on NRG Energy from $86.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI raised NRG Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $74.00 to $126.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on NRG Energy from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.71.

NRG Energy Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NRG opened at $103.39 on Tuesday. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $51.58 and a 52 week high of $115.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.98, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.15. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $100.77 and a 200-day moving average of $93.08.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. This is a boost from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.41, for a total value of $5,484,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 64,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,891,191.68. This represents a 48.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 69,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,780,794.02. The trade was a 22.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.