Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Takes Position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $120,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in NRG Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in NRG Energy by 100.4% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in NRG Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its position in NRG Energy by 414.9% in the 4th quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in NRG Energy by 221.0% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

NRG Energy Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE NRG opened at $100.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.13. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.11 and a 1-year high of $117.26. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $102.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.97.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a boost from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. NRG Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 35.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NRG Energy news, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,891,191.68. This trade represents a 48.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 69,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on NRG shares. StockNews.com downgraded NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 8th. Evercore ISI raised NRG Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $126.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim increased their price target on NRG Energy from $134.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on NRG Energy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.29.

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.