NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) Short Interest Down 20.5% in January

NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,910,000 shares, a drop of 20.5% from the December 31st total of 11,210,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,870,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days. Approximately 4.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NRG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NRG Energy from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised NRG Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $93.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on NRG Energy from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Evercore ISI raised NRG Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $126.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on NRG Energy from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NRG Energy news, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the vice president now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.63, for a total value of $1,952,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,780,794.02. This trade represents a 22.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NRG Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 shares of 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 shares of 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 shares of 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 shares of 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. 97.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NRG Energy Trading Down 2.2 %

NYSE:NRG traded down $2.36 on Friday, reaching $102.65. 2,897,905 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,176,772. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $20.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a fifty day moving average of $98.17 and a 200-day moving average of $89.47. NRG Energy has a 52-week low of $51.26 and a 52-week high of $115.38.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 40.95%.

NRG Energy Company 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.