NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have issued a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $91.5556.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on NEE shares. Argus set a $90.00 price objective on NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised NextEra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $89.00 price objective (down from $90.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays set a $88.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $79.80 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $83.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. NextEra Energy has a 12-month low of $61.72 and a 12-month high of $87.53. The company has a market cap of $166.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.41, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.74.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.09. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.72% and a return on equity of 12.42%. The company had revenue of $7.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. NextEra Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 21st. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 71.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Armando Pimentel, Jr. sold 145,140 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.91, for a total value of $12,178,697.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 162,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,651,569.63. This represents a 47.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark Lemasney sold 846 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.90, for a total value of $63,365.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $694,098.30. This trade represents a 8.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 157,322 shares of company stock worth $13,148,943. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 79.7% in the second quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in NextEra Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new position in NextEra Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Company Profile

NextEra Energy, Inc (NYSE: NEE), headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida, is a leading clean energy company with both regulated utility operations and competitive renewable generation businesses. The company’s principal operating subsidiaries include Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), a regulated electric utility serving customers in Florida, and NextEra Energy Resources, which develops, constructs, owns and operates a large portfolio of wind, solar and energy storage projects. Together these businesses provide electricity supply, transmission and distribution services as well as utility-scale renewable generation and related services.

NextEra’s activities cover the full lifecycle of power assets, from project development and construction to operation, maintenance and asset optimization.