NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Upgraded at BTIG Research

BTIG Research upgraded shares of NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. New Street Research set a $84.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Monday, October 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Evercore ISI set a $92.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays set a $87.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.38.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:NEE opened at $84.42 on Wednesday. NextEra Energy has a 12-month low of $61.72 and a 12-month high of $86.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.85 billion, a PE ratio of 29.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $76.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.78.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.04. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 22.84% and a return on equity of 12.31%. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 79.37%.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Mark Lemasney sold 846 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.90, for a total value of $63,365.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $694,098.30. This trade represents a 8.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 11,336 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $906,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 167,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,398,480. The trade was a 6.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 30,528 shares of company stock valued at $2,277,773 over the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NextEra Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NEE. Norges Bank bought a new position in NextEra Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,375,545,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 58.4% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 17,236,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,221,896,000 after acquiring an additional 6,352,798 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 212,877,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,777,923,000 after acquiring an additional 5,554,603 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 1,765.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,968,305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $299,567,000 after acquiring an additional 3,755,563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 20.7% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,446,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,165,748,000 after acquiring an additional 2,815,629 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Company Profile

NextEra Energy, Inc, through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power to retail and wholesale customers in North America. The company generates electricity through wind, solar, nuclear,natural gas, and other clean energy. It also develops, constructs, and operates long-term contracted assets that consists of clean energy solutions, such as renewable generation facilities, battery storage projects, and electric transmission facilities; sells energy commodities; and owns, develops, constructs, manages and operates electric generation facilities in wholesale energy markets.