NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Trading 0.6% Higher

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) shot up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $73.36 and last traded at $73.27. 2,117,607 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 11,797,998 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.85.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on NEE shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America increased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.93.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $153.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.03.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.28 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 27.62%. NextEra Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 56.13%.

Institutional Trading of NextEra Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Clear Investment Research LLC increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 387.2% in the fourth quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 458 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the period. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. American Capital Advisory LLC lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 74.5% during the first quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 59.8% in the 3rd quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 315.4% in the 4th quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. 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.