Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Purchases Shares of 6,244 NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

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

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 valued at $494,225,000 after buying an additional 313,478 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. lifted its position in 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 valued at $256,948,000 after buying an additional 24,834 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in 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 valued at $242,639,000 after buying an additional 182,481 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in 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 valued at $140,504,000 after buying an additional 1,417,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in 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 valued at $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 Up 3.8 %

NRG opened at $101.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.49 billion, a PE ratio of 25.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $97.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.10. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.26 and a 12-month high of $115.38.

NRG Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This is a positive change from NRG Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. NRG Energy’s payout ratio is presently 40.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NRG Energy

In other NRG Energy news, VP Robert J. Gaudette sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.41, for a total transaction of $5,484,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 64,448 shares in the company, valued at $5,891,191.68. The trade was a 48.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.63, for a total transaction of $1,952,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 69,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,780,794.02. This represents a 22.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on NRG. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $77.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of NRG Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $93.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.43.

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.