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

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)’s share price traded down 0.3% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $83.00 and last traded at $83.49. 2,948,914 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 10,720,354 shares. The stock had previously closed at $83.70.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on NEE shares. Citigroup upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Scotiabank increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.46.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $82.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.89. The firm has a market cap of $174.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.56.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced 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 during 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 last year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.13%.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In related news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 100 shares in the company, valued at $7,697. This trade represents 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

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NEE. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of 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 worth $1,508,155,000 after purchasing an additional 143,748 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in 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 valued at $579,097,000 after purchasing an additional 691,341 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in NextEra Energy by 22.3% in the first 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 during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 14.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,809,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $575,573,000 after buying an additional 851,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 7.2% during the second 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Company Profile

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.