NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Given New $73.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

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

NEE has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of NextEra Energy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Mizuho reiterated a buy rating and issued a $67.00 price objective (up previously from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an equal weight rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $74.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $69.93.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:NEE opened at $65.31 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 fifty-two week low of $47.15 and a fifty-two week high of $79.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.72. The company has a market cap of $134.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.51.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 26.00% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The firm had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that NextEra Energy will post 3.4 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 57.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextEra Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NEE. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 16.7% in the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 10,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551 shares during the period. Ziegler Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 3.1% in the third quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 128,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,354,000 after purchasing an additional 3,817 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 56.9% in the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 76,066 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,358,000 after purchasing an additional 27,592 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 8.8% during the third quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 31,701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,816,000 after buying an additional 2,570 shares during the period. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 17.7% during the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,468,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,049,000 after buying an additional 221,310 shares during the period. 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.