John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Has $2.72 Million Stock Holdings in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lessened its stake in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 52,550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 950 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $2,717,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in NRG Energy by 145.4% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,746,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,064,000 after purchasing an additional 2,812,434 shares in the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in NRG Energy in the 1st quarter worth about $49,072,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP raised its stake in NRG Energy by 326.7% in the 1st quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 1,600,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,000 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its stake in NRG Energy by 3,477.2% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 976,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,618,000 after purchasing an additional 949,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in NRG Energy by 25.7% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 4,356,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $162,899,000 after purchasing an additional 891,443 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on NRG. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of NRG Energy from $51.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NRG Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NRG Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.50.

NRG Energy Price Performance

Shares of NRG Energy stock traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $69.97. 3,986,608 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,693,345. The stock has a market cap of $15.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -65.68 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $62.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.79. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.52 and a 12 month high of $76.54.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.51 billion. NRG Energy had a negative net margin of 0.70% and a positive return on equity of 44.03%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NRG Energy, Inc. will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current year.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.4075 per share. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is currently -152.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Rasesh M. Patel sold 49,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.59, for a total transaction of $3,072,668.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 356,962 shares in the company, valued at $22,342,251.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.