Empowered Funds LLC Has $22.60 Million Position in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 57.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 250,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 91,707 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $22,604,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in NRG Energy by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,399,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $494,225,000 after acquiring an additional 313,478 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A. increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 2,820,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $256,948,000 after purchasing an additional 24,834 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,663,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $242,639,000 after purchasing an additional 182,481 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 1,010.1% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,557,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $140,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417,057 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 52.2% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,330,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $121,227,000 after purchasing an additional 456,573 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on NRG shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on NRG Energy from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded NRG Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $93.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.43.

NRG Energy Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NRG stock opened at $102.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.15. NRG Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $51.26 and a twelve month high of $115.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This is an increase from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is presently 44.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 69,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,780,794.02. The trade was a 22.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.41, for a total value of $5,484,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

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.