Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG - Free Report) by 17.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 458,811 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 69,047 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of NRG Energy worth $41,800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its stake in NRG Energy by 25.1% during the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 50,027 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,557,000 after acquiring an additional 10,031 shares in the last quarter. Luxor Capital Group LP boosted its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 47.8% during the 3rd quarter. Luxor Capital Group LP now owns 520,591 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,426,000 after purchasing an additional 168,267 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Hawaii increased its holdings in shares of NRG Energy by 95.5% in the third quarter. Bank of Hawaii now owns 15,685 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,429,000 after purchasing an additional 7,662 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of NRG Energy by 181.5% in the third quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 11,913 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,085,000 after buying an additional 7,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in NRG Energy by 29.7% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 236,734 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $21,566,000 after buying an additional 54,165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.72% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NRG. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target 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. 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 report on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of NRG Energy from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised NRG Energy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $93.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NRG Energy from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $102.71.

NRG Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NRG traded up $0.79 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $93.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 727,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,183,174. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.12. NRG Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $50.00 and a 1-year high of $103.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $93.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.57, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.17.

NRG Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.4075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $1.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. NRG Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 40.95%.

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.