NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Rating Lowered to Hold at Royal Bank of Canada

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) was downgraded by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

NEE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $87.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.46.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE NEE opened at $84.96 on Tuesday. NextEra Energy has a 12 month low of $53.11 and a 12 month high of $86.10. 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 has a market capitalization of $174.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $82.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.96.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.45% and a return on equity of 11.75%. The business had revenue of $6.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that NextEra Energy will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total value of $50,646.26. Following the completion of 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 35.7% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 100,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,411,000 after buying an additional 26,382 shares during the period. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.2% in the third quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 1,216,077 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,495,000 after purchasing an additional 26,270 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 10.6% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 79,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,112,000 after purchasing an additional 7,677 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1,224.3% in the second quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 72,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,130,000 after purchasing an additional 66,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 57.0% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 5,957,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $421,831,000 after purchasing an additional 2,163,437 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.