NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Price Target Raised to $85.00

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) had its price target hoisted by Barclays from $84.00 to $85.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. New Street Research set a $84.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Monday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $98.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Argus set a $90.00 price target on NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, HSBC boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.50.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NEE opened at $83.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $174.21 billion, a PE ratio of 26.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $82.32 and a 200-day moving average of $78.23. NextEra Energy has a 52-week low of $61.72 and a 52-week high of $87.53.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $7.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.42% and a net margin of 24.72%.The firm’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 72.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Armando Pimentel, Jr. sold 145,140 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.91, for a total transaction of $12,178,697.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 162,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,651,569.63. This trade represents a 47.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextEra Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 213,799,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,139,726,000 after acquiring an additional 922,500 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 45,724,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,161,774,000 after purchasing an additional 526,996 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,375,545,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 16,787,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,267,265,000 after buying an additional 373,088 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,786,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,165,896,000 after buying an additional 340,315 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

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.