Barclays Lowers NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) Price Target to $200.00

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) had its price objective cut by investment analysts at Barclays from $203.00 to $200.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 39.95% from the stock’s current price.

NRG has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of NRG Energy from $198.00 to $181.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Zacks Research raised shares of NRG Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group initiated coverage on NRG Energy in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $211.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $153.00 price objective on NRG Energy in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on NRG Energy in a research report on Friday, March 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $197.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.21.

NRG Energy Price Performance

Shares of NRG Energy stock traded up $1.67 on Tuesday, reaching $142.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 397,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,540,478. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.92. The company has a market capitalization of $30.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.45 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $158.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $161.98. NRG Energy has a 52-week low of $79.57 and a 52-week high of $189.96.

NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.15). NRG Energy had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 109.48%. The business had revenue of $7.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that NRG Energy will post 6.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at NRG Energy

In other NRG Energy news, VP Virginia Kinney sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.65, for a total value of $783,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 55,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,693,291.75. This represents a 8.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bruce Chung sold 12,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.56, for a total value of $1,938,682.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 79,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,391,254.32. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 177,556 shares of company stock worth $28,333,696 in the last 90 days. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,868,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,730,685,000 after acquiring an additional 234,666 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in NRG Energy by 178.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,676,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,222,409,000 after purchasing an additional 4,916,653 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in NRG Energy by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,637,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $910,324,000 after purchasing an additional 82,162 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in NRG Energy by 0.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,880,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $790,471,000 after purchasing an additional 31,238 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors acquired a new position in NRG Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $305,817,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.72% of the company’s stock.

About NRG Energy

NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) is a U.S.-based integrated power company headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company develops, owns and operates a diversified portfolio of power generation assets and participates in wholesale and retail energy markets. NRG supplies electricity to utilities, commercial and industrial customers, and retail consumers, while also providing energy-related products and services designed to manage consumption and support reliability.

NRG’s generation mix includes conventional thermal plants as well as renewable and distributed energy resources.