Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG)

Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) in a research report released on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $82.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

NRG has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on NRG Energy from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on NRG Energy from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of NRG Energy from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, September 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $73.75.

NRG Energy Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NRG stock opened at $80.77 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $78.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.85. NRG Energy has a twelve month low of $36.61 and a twelve month high of $87.58. 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 company has a market capitalization of $16.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.44 and a beta of 1.10.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The utilities provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $1.82. The business had revenue of $6.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.32 billion. NRG Energy had a return on equity of 43.69% and a net margin of 7.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that NRG Energy will post 4.45 EPS for the current year.

NRG Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $0.4075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $1.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NRG Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Banco Santander S.A. bought a new stake in shares of NRG Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $217,671,000. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 253.2% in the first quarter. Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC now owns 1,766,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,541,000 after buying an additional 1,266,000 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in NRG Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $64,306,000. Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NRG Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $53,773,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 65.8% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,596,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,318,000 after buying an additional 633,765 shares during the period. 97.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.