NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Price Target Raised to $79.00 at BMO Capital Markets

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) had its price target upped by BMO Capital Markets from $78.00 to $79.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on NEE. Mizuho lowered NextEra Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $71.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a sector outperform rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised NextEra Energy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $74.86.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NEE stock opened at $73.06 on Wednesday. NextEra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $47.15 and a fifty-two week high of $80.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.51. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.59.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.11. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 27.62%. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NextEra Energy will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.13%.

Institutional Trading of NextEra Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Renasant Bank increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the first quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 14,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $934,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.8% in the first quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,029 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $513,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. GSG Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.6% in the first quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 6,509 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $407,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Greenfield Savings Bank increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Greenfield Savings Bank now owns 32,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,957,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.5% in the first quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 6,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.