NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG – Get Rating) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 1st will be given a dividend of 0.3775 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, February 15th. This represents a $1.51 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, January 31st. This is a boost from NRG Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35.

NRG Energy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 126.8% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. NRG Energy has a payout ratio of 26.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect NRG Energy to earn $5.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.51 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.0%.

NRG Energy Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE NRG opened at $33.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.93. NRG Energy has a 52 week low of $30.64 and a 52 week high of $47.82. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $34.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Antonio Carrillo bought 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $31.71 per share, for a total transaction of $285,390.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 27,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $870,312.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Antonio Carrillo bought 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $31.71 per share, for a total transaction of $285,390.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 27,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $870,312.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mauricio Gutierrez bought 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 15th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $32.03 per share, for a total transaction of $480,450.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,111,368 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,597,117.04. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.76% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of NRG Energy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 39,743 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,422 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,350 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,727 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 427,433 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $16,396,000 after purchasing an additional 24,792 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 32,760 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028 shares during the period. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its stake in shares of NRG Energy by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 229,581 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,243,000 after purchasing an additional 14,574 shares during the period. 99.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on NRG shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on NRG Energy from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Bank of America raised NRG Energy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $38.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Monday, December 19th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on NRG Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. UBS Group cut NRG Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on NRG Energy from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NRG Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $40.40.

About NRG Energy

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NRG Energy, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated power company in the United States. It operates through Texas, East, and West. The company is involved in the producing, selling, and delivering electricity and related products and services to approximately 6 million residential, commercial, industrial, and wholesale customers.

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