NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $83.07.

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on NextEra Energy from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Citigroup raised their price objective on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $87.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Dbs Bank lowered shares of NextEra Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:NEE opened at $83.85 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $172.27 billion, a PE ratio of 22.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.49. NextEra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $47.15 and a fifty-two week high of $86.10.

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

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.13%.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total transaction of $50,646.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 100 shares in the company, valued at $7,697. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextEra Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,298,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,508,155,000 after acquiring an additional 143,748 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 691,341 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 22.3% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,961,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $443,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268,900 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,631,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $402,774,000 after purchasing an additional 629,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $431,966,000 after acquiring an additional 409,708 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.