NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEEGet Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $83.46.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NEE. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on NextEra Energy

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 23,684 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $1,657,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 196,817 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,190. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total transaction of $162,258.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. This trade represents a 7.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextEra Energy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Accel Wealth Management raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 8,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $618,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. L.M. Kohn & Company increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 15,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $139,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 11,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $836,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NEE opened at $69.66 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $68.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.40 billion, a PE ratio of 20.67, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEEGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.99. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 28.06% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The company had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.5665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.64%.

About NextEra Energy

(Get Free Report

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.

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Analyst Recommendations for NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE)

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