NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE:NEP) Cut to “Sector Perform” at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE:NEP) from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note published on Monday, MarketBeat reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has $30.00 price target on the solar energy provider’s stock, down from their prior price target of $38.00.

NEP has been the topic of several other reports. Marathon Capitl reissued an equal weight rating on shares of NextEra Energy Partners in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an underweight rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy Partners in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Mizuho cut NextEra Energy Partners from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Raymond James dropped their target price on NextEra Energy Partners from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a market perform rating on shares of NextEra Energy Partners in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $38.20.

NextEra Energy Partners Price Performance

NYSE NEP opened at $26.67 on Monday. NextEra Energy Partners has a one year low of $20.17 and a one year high of $59.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $30.76 and a 200 day moving average of $29.43. The company has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.74 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.36.

NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE:NEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The solar energy provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.63. The company had revenue of $257.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $331.78 million. NextEra Energy Partners had a negative return on equity of 0.48% and a net margin of 23.55%. NextEra Energy Partners’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.17) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NextEra Energy Partners will post 1.89 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th were issued a $0.8925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 6th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.39%. NextEra Energy Partners’s payout ratio is currently 117.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy Partners by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Walnut Private Equity Partners LLC now owns 150,000 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $4,146,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in NextEra Energy Partners in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,441,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy Partners by 574.0% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 63,722 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $1,917,000 after purchasing an additional 54,267 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Grove Capital LLC lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy Partners by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Redwood Grove Capital LLC now owns 776,555 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $23,359,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in NextEra Energy Partners in the 1st quarter worth approximately $9,927,000. 66.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Partners Company Profile

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.