NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Trading Up 0.7% – Here’s What Happened

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)’s share price was up 0.7% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $81.77 and last traded at $81.51. Approximately 1,162,842 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 10,806,942 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.94.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on NEE shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price 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 increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.07.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $167.57 billion, a PE ratio of 26.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 24.45%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were issued 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 yield of 2.53%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is 66.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $7,697. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextEra Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its position in NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 32,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,743,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the period. Woodstock Corp boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.3% during the third quarter. Woodstock Corp now owns 133,943 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,322,000 after purchasing an additional 1,749 shares in the last quarter. Stonekeep Investments LLC increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 17.4% during the third 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 period. Webster Bank N. A. raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.9% in the third quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 14,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,225,000 after buying an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 6.3% during the third quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $599,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.