NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:NEP) Increases Dividend to $0.89 Per Share

NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:NEP) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of 0.8925 per share by the solar energy provider on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.05%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. This is an increase from NextEra Energy Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88.

NextEra Energy Partners has increased its dividend by an average of 14.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 10 years. NextEra Energy Partners has a payout ratio of 345.1% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect NextEra Energy Partners to earn $0.92 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $3.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 382.6%.

NextEra Energy Partners Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE:NEP traded up $0.86 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $29.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,782,483 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,388,839. NextEra Energy Partners has a 52 week low of $20.17 and a 52 week high of $63.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The company has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $28.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.35.

NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE:NEP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The solar energy provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.63. The business had revenue of $257.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $331.78 million. NextEra Energy Partners had a net margin of 16.00% and a negative return on equity of 1.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.17) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that NextEra Energy Partners will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on NEP. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of NextEra Energy Partners in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of NextEra Energy Partners in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NextEra Energy Partners to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of NextEra Energy Partners from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy Partners from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.88.

About NextEra Energy Partners

NextEra Energy Partners, LP acquires, owns, and manages contracted clean energy projects in the United States. It owns a portfolio of contracted renewable generation assets consisting of wind, solar, and battery storage projects. The company owns contracted natural gas pipeline assets. NextEra Energy Partners, LP was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Juno Beach, Florida.