Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Has $291,000 Stock Holdings in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG) by 13.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,222 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in NRG Energy were worth $291,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of NRG. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 worth $494,225,000 after buying an additional 313,478 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 2,828,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $255,142,000 after acquiring an additional 7,500 shares during the period. Appaloosa LP boosted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 81.5% during the 4th quarter. Appaloosa LP now owns 1,815,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $163,749,000 after acquiring an additional 815,180 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised 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 purchasing an additional 1,417,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in NRG Energy by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 1,374,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $123,984,000 after purchasing an additional 41,094 shares during the last quarter. 97.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on NRG shares. Guggenheim lifted their price target on NRG Energy from $134.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NRG Energy from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of NRG Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $86.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NRG Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $124.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bruce Chung sold 20,000 shares of NRG Energy 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NRG Energy Trading Down 10.1 %

NRG opened at $83.38 on Monday. 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 fifty-two week low of $65.11 and a fifty-two week high of $117.26. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $100.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.95, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.10.

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 issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. 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 presently 35.92%.

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.