NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Shares Up 0.5% – Here’s Why

Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) shot up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $83.41 and last traded at $83.18. 970,831 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 10,787,362 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.79.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NEE. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Dbs Bank cut NextEra Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.07.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $81.41 and a 200 day moving average of $75.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.56.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 24.45%. The firm had revenue of $6.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.13%.

Insider Activity

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total transaction of $50,646.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,697. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NextEra Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,298,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,508,155,000 after purchasing an additional 143,748 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,178,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $579,097,000 after buying an additional 691,341 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 22.3% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,961,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $443,834,000 after buying an additional 1,268,900 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,100,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $431,966,000 after buying an additional 409,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 5,981,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $423,568,000 after buying an additional 388,149 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

About NextEra Energy

NextEra Energy, Inc, through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power to retail and wholesale customers in North America. The company generates electricity through wind, solar, nuclear,natural gas, and other clean energy. It also develops, constructs, and operates long-term contracted assets that consists of clean energy solutions, such as renewable generation facilities, battery storage projects, and electric transmission facilities; sells energy commodities; and owns, develops, constructs, manages and operates electric generation facilities in wholesale energy markets.