NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $95.56 and last traded at $94.2970, with a volume of 775881 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $93.80.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NEE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (up previously from $84.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. HSBC boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.95.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 1.6%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $84.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

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

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.6232 per share. This represents a $2.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was 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 owned 167,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,073,290. This represents a 15.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John W. Ketchum sold 99,603 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $27,332,054.22. This represents a 24.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 159,049 shares of company stock worth $14,194,542 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NextEra Energy

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its position in NextEra Energy by 24.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 64,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,843,000 after acquiring an additional 12,738 shares during the last quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 5.0% during the third quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 326,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,624,000 after purchasing an additional 15,600 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.3% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,845,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $365,783,000 after acquiring an additional 60,324 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in NextEra Energy by 286.0% in the 3rd quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 22,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,594,000 after acquiring an additional 16,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daymark Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in NextEra Energy by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 45,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,125,000 after buying an additional 2,767 shares during the last quarter. 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.