NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Research Coverage Started at Barclays

Barclays began coverage on shares of NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) in a research note published on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an equal weight rating and a $66.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

NEE has been the subject of several other reports. Guggenheim increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Mizuho reissued a buy rating and set a $67.00 price target (up from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $72.00.

NextEra Energy Stock Down 1.3 %

NEE stock opened at $63.08 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50-day moving average of $59.19 and a 200-day moving average of $58.29. NextEra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $47.15 and a fifty-two week high of $79.78.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 26.00%. The firm had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.06%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NextEra Energy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,561,055,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in NextEra Energy by 66,613.3% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,263,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,530,055,000 after buying an additional 30,218,452 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in NextEra Energy by 37.7% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,049,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,278,553,000 after buying an additional 5,764,842 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new stake in NextEra Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $141,817,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in NextEra Energy by 59.1% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,784,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $337,096,000 after buying an additional 2,148,205 shares in 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.