Analysts Set NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Price Target at $87.15

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $87.15.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered NextEra Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NextEra Energy stock opened at $72.81 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $78.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.71. NextEra Energy has a 12 month low of $53.95 and a 12 month high of $86.10. The company has a market capitalization of $149.73 billion, a PE ratio of 21.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $7.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.11 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. Analysts expect that NextEra Energy will post 3.41 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 60.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,007 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.57, for a total value of $302,808.99. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,193,401.44. The trade was a 20.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextEra Energy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of NEE. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 42,418,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,571,650,000 after purchasing an additional 820,704 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.7% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,284,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,122,963,000 after buying an additional 86,758 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,630,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $729,559,000 after buying an additional 452,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in NextEra Energy by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,809,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $575,573,000 after acquiring an additional 851,873 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.