Dbs Bank Downgrades NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) to Hold

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) was downgraded by equities researchers at Dbs Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Zacks.com reports.

NEE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.07.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NEE opened at $84.52 on Friday. NextEra Energy has a 12 month low of $47.15 and a 12 month high of $85.56. The company has a market cap of $173.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50 day moving average is $79.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.45% and a return on equity of 11.75%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that NextEra Energy will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total transaction of $50,646.26. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,697. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NextEra Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NEE. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,298,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,508,155,000 after buying an additional 143,748 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,178,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $579,097,000 after acquiring an additional 691,341 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 22.3% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,961,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $443,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268,900 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,631,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $402,774,000 after purchasing an additional 629,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 7.2% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,100,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $431,966,000 after purchasing an additional 409,708 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

About NextEra Energy

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.