NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday.

NEE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Seaport Research Partners dropped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Mizuho set a $90.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $106.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.47.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 1.3%

NextEra Energy stock opened at $92.58 on Friday. NextEra Energy has a 12 month low of $61.72 and a 12 month high of $95.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $192.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.14 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.92.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 24.93%.The business had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. NextEra Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.6232 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $2.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 75.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Ronald R. Reagan sold 18,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $1,675,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $867,870. This trade represents a 65.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $2,700,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 167,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,073,290. This trade represents a 15.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 159,049 shares of company stock valued at $14,194,542 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of NextEra Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NEE. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,816,327,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,554,603 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1,765.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,755,563 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 47.3% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 9,254,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $742,913,000 after purchasing an additional 2,972,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in NextEra Energy in the third quarter worth $177,198,000. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.