NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $91.50.

Several brokerages have recently commented on NEE. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. TD Cowen started coverage on NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday, October 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded NextEra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, UBS Group set a $91.00 price target on NextEra Energy and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, CEO Armando Pimentel, Jr. sold 145,140 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.91, for a total value of $12,178,697.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 162,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,651,569.63. The trade was a 47.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in NextEra Energy by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 213,799,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,139,726,000 after acquiring an additional 922,500 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 45,724,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,161,774,000 after purchasing an additional 526,996 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,375,545,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 16,787,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,267,265,000 after buying an additional 373,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.1% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,786,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,165,896,000 after buying an additional 340,315 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 1.8%

NEE stock opened at $83.65 on Friday. NextEra Energy has a twelve month low of $61.72 and a twelve month high of $87.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $174.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.64, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $82.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.23.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $8.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.5665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.29%.

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.