NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NextEra Energy from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Mizuho set a $90.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $87.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $106.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.44.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NEE stock opened at $91.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $190.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.79 and a beta of 0.76. NextEra Energy has a 52-week low of $61.72 and a 52-week high of $95.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The company’s 50 day moving average is $90.49 and its 200 day moving average is $84.17.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 24.93%.NextEra Energy’s revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other news, Treasurer James Michael May sold 7,161 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.27, for a total transaction of $646,423.47. Following the sale, the treasurer directly owned 26,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,411,924.13. The trade was a 21.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $2,700,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 167,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,073,290. The trade was a 15.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 190,816 shares of company stock worth $17,075,619 in the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of NextEra Energy

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 216,033,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,343,185,000 after purchasing an additional 2,234,176 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 47,272,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,781,790,000 after buying an additional 966,152 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,816,327,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,365,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,474,407,000 after buying an additional 1,136,074 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in NextEra Energy by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,281,357 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,387,347,000 after buying an additional 485,854 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

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.