NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Price Target Increased to $79.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) had its price target upped by Morgan Stanley from $77.00 to $79.00 in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Barclays started coverage on NextEra Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an equal weight rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $69.93.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NEE stock opened at $65.31 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.04 billion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.51. NextEra Energy has a 12-month low of $47.15 and a 12-month high of $79.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.72.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.72 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 26.00%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 57.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextEra Energy

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Clear Investment Research LLC increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 387.2% in the 4th quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 458 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 59.8% in the 3rd quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 315.4% in the 4th quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Hedge funds and other 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.