NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Price Target Raised to $73.00

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) had its price objective increased by Scotiabank from $69.00 to $73.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $74.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Barclays started coverage on NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Guggenheim upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $71.21.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $66.56 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. NextEra Energy has a 12 month low of $47.15 and a 12 month high of $79.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.89. The stock has a market cap of $136.61 billion, a PE ratio of 18.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.51.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.11. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 26.00%. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.28 billion. During the same period 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. Research analysts predict that NextEra Energy will post 3.4 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 198,430,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,368,065,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956,153 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter worth $2,561,055,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in NextEra Energy by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,982,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,316,653,000 after purchasing an additional 455,271 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,782,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $654,940,000 after acquiring an additional 429,979 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 9,026,464 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $517,126,000 after acquiring an additional 209,584 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by 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.