Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Acquires New Position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 6,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $545,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in NRG Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in NRG Energy by 74.7% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in NRG Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in NRG Energy by 100.4% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in NRG Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 97.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on NRG. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NRG Energy from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded NRG Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $93.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on NRG Energy from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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, Evercore ISI upgraded NRG Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $126.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NRG Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NRG Energy news, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $5,891,191.68. This represents a 48.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NRG Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NRG opened at $103.39 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.08. The company has a market cap of $20.94 billion, a PE ratio of 25.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.15. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.58 and a 12-month high of $115.38.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. This is an increase 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 44.22%.

NRG Energy 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.