NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Erste Group Bank

Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

NEE has been the subject of several other reports. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on NextEra Energy from $102.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays lowered their price target on NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NextEra Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.46.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 3.0 %

NYSE NEE opened at $70.37 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $144.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.88, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.69. NextEra Energy has a 1-year low of $61.72 and a 1-year high of $86.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of $68.73 and a 200-day moving average of $71.55.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99. The firm had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.58 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.5665 dividend. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total transaction of $162,258.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 made changes to their positions in NEE. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in NextEra Energy by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,964,000 after purchasing an additional 27,340 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter worth $217,000. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 112,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,077,000 after buying an additional 9,039 shares during the last quarter. 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.