NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Stock Price Down 0.3% – Time to Sell?

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)’s stock price dropped 0.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $79.66 and last traded at $80.26. Approximately 2,378,602 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 10,831,553 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.50.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NEE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $87.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NextEra Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.07.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $164.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.59.

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

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.88%.

Insider Transactions at NextEra Energy

In other news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total transaction of $50,646.26. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stonekeep Investments LLC grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Stonekeep Investments LLC now owns 4,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $383,000 after buying an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 14,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,225,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $599,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC now owns 70,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC now owns 91,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,747,000 after purchasing an additional 9,809 shares during the period. 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.