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

Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nineteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $94.9444.

NEE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Erste Group Bank raised shares of NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, HSBC raised their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $96.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other news, CEO John W. Ketchum sold 99,603 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.34, for a total transaction of $8,898,532.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 305,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,332,054.22. This trade represents a 24.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.00, for a total transaction of $458,862.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 16,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,572,165. The trade was a 22.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 190,816 shares of company stock worth $17,075,619. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextEra Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 216,033,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,343,185,000 after acquiring an additional 2,234,176 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 47,272,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,781,790,000 after acquiring an additional 966,152 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $2,816,327,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake 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 valued at $1,474,407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136,074 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,281,357 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,387,347,000 after acquiring an additional 485,854 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NEE opened at $93.50 on Friday. NextEra Energy has a 12-month low of $61.72 and a 12-month high of $95.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.82 billion, a PE ratio of 28.42 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $91.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.45.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.93% and a return on equity of 12.18%. The company had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. NextEra Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate 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 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.6232 per share. This represents a $2.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 75.68%.

About NextEra Energy

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.