Analysts Set NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Target Price at $85.15

Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $85.15.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NEE. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of NextEra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $97.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th.

Insider Activity

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total transaction of $162,258.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in NextEra Energy by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 45,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,267,000 after acquiring an additional 5,831 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,823,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,714,000 after purchasing an additional 41,328 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,436 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,964,000 after buying an additional 27,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 171,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,312,000 after buying an additional 9,425 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NEE opened at $66.29 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $69.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.14. The company has a market cap of $136.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. NextEra Energy has a 52-week low of $61.72 and a 52-week high of $86.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is 67.06%.

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.