How to buy NRG Energy shares

NRG Energy, Inc (NRG) is a leading utilities-independent power producers business with stocks listed in the US. It opened the day at US$36.48 after a previous close of US$36.43. During the day the price has varied from a low of USD36.23 to a high of USD37.33. The latest price was USD37.31 (25 minute delay). NRG Energy is listed on the NYSE. All prices are listed in US Dollars.

How to buy shares in NRG Energy

1. Compare share trading platforms. To buy shares in a US company from Australia you'll need to find a trading platform that offers access to US stock markets. If you're just starting out, look for a platform with low brokerage and foreign exchange fees.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and tax file number. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for NRG Energy. Find the share by name or ticker symbol: NRG. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until NRG Energy reaches your desired price. To spread out your risk, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of US$33.9, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimise risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of NRG Energy, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of NRG Energy. Optimise your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

NRG Energy share price

Use our graph to track the performance of NRG stocks over time.

NRG Energy shares at a glance

• Live prices
• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-06-11.

Open	US$36.48
High	US$37.33
Low	US$36.23
Close	US$37.31
Previous close	US$36.43
Change	US$0.88
Change %	2.4156%
Volume	2,004,817

Information last updated 2021-06-10.

52-week range	US$27.4823 - US$43.6807
50-day moving average	US$34.7383
200-day moving average	US$37.1654
Target price	US$44.3
PE ratio	29.336
Dividend yield	US$1.25 (3.47%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	US$1.25

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The value of your investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no indication of future results.

Is it a good time to buy NRG Energy stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of NRG Energy, Inc by TradingView

NRG Energy price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the last close of $37.31

1 week (2021-06-02)	12.99%
1 month (2021-05-12)	10.94%
3 months (2021-03-11)	-12.29%
6 months (2020-12-11)	12.45%

1 year (2020-06-11)	10.48%
2 years (2019-06-11)	7.99%
3 years (2018-06-11)	14.24%
5 years (2016-06-10)	150.40%

Is NRG Energy under- or over-valued?

Valuing NRG Energy stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of NRG Energy's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

NRG Energy's P/E ratio

NRG Energy's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 29x. In other words, NRG Energy shares trade at around 29x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

NRG Energy's PEG ratio

NRG Energy's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 0.6949. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into NRG Energy's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

NRG Energy's EBITDA

NRG Energy's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is US$1.7 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a NRG Energy's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

NRG Energy financials

Revenue TTM	US$15.2 billion
Operating margin TTM	6.09%
Gross profit TTM	US$2.6 billion
Return on assets TTM	3.6%
Return on equity TTM	20.11%
Profit margin	2.02%
Book value	6.2
Market capitalisation	US$9 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting NRG Energy shares

There are currently 12.6 million NRG Energy shares held short by investors – that's known as NRG Energy's "short interest". This figure is 18% up from 10.7 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting NRG Energy shares can be evaluated.

NRG Energy's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

NRG Energy's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of NRG Energy shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of NRG Energy shares traded daily (recently around 3.1 million). NRG Energy's SIR currently stands at 4.06. In other words for every 100,000 NRG Energy shares traded daily on the market, roughly 4060 shares are currently held short.

However NRG Energy's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of NRG Energy shares, or, against the total number of tradable NRG Energy shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case NRG Energy's short interest could be expressed as 0.05% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 NRG Energy shares in existence, roughly 50 shares are currently held short) or 0.0591% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable NRG Energy shares, roughly 59 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against NRG Energy.

Find out more about how you can short NRG Energy stock.

NRG Energy's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like NRG Energy.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

NRG Energy's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 35.19

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and NRG Energy's overall score of 35.19 (as at 12/31/2018) is pretty weak – landing it in it in the 83rd percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like NRG Energy is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

NRG Energy's environmental score

Environmental score: 20.81/100

NRG Energy's social score

Social score: 10.12/100

NRG Energy's governance score

Governance score: 4.75/100

NRG Energy's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. NRG Energy scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that NRG Energy has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

NRG Energy, Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	35.19
Total ESG percentile	82.5
Environmental score	20.81
Social score	10.12
Governance score	4.75
Level of controversy	2

NRG Energy share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 39.31% of net profits

Recently NRG Energy has paid out, on average, around 39.31% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 3.55% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), NRG Energy shareholders could enjoy a 3.55% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In NRG Energy's case, that would currently equate to about $1.25 per share.

While NRG Energy's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that NRG Energy may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

NRG Energy's most recent dividend payout was on 16 May 2021. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 29 April 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have NRG Energy's shares ever split?

NRG Energy's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 31 May 2007. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your NRG Energy shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for NRG Energy shares which in turn could have impacted NRG Energy's share price.

NRG Energy share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, NRG Energy's shares have ranged in value from as little as US$27.4823 up to US$43.6807. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while NRG Energy's is 0.8293. This would suggest that NRG Energy's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

NRG Energy overview

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 3.6 million residential, industrial, and commercial consumers. It generates electricity using natural gas, coal, oil, solar, nuclear, and battery storage. The company also provides system power, distributed generation, renewable products, backup generation, storage and distributed solar, demand response, energy efficiency, advisory, and on-site energy solutions; and carbon management and specialty services. In addition, it trades in electric power, natural gas, and related commodities; environmental products; weather products; and financial products, including forwards, futures, options, and swaps. Further, the company procures fuels; provides transportation services; and directly sells energy, services, and products and services to retail customers under the NRG, Reliant, Green Mountain Energy, Stream, XOOM Energy, and other brand names. As of December 31, 2020, it owns power generation portfolio with approximately 23,000 megawatts of capacity at 33 plants. NRG Energy, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of NRG Energy is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.965% of NRG Energy shares are held by insiders and 98.734% by institutions.

• When does the fiscal year end for NRG Energy?

  NRG Energy's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is NRG Energy based?

  NRG Energy's address is: 804 Carnegie Center, Princeton, NJ, United States, 08540

• What is NRG Energy's ISIN number?

  NRG Energy's international securities identification number is: US6293775085

• What is NRG Energy's CUSIP number?

  NRG Energy's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 629377508