Bank of America Boosts NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Price Target to $67.00

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) had its target price boosted by Bank of America from $61.00 to $67.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho restated a buy rating and set a $67.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a sector outperform rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded NextEra Energy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $70.93.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:NEE opened at $66.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $60.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.83. The company has a market cap of $135.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.33, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.55. NextEra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $47.15 and a fifty-two week high of $79.25.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.28 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 26.00%. The company’s revenue was down 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders 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 3.11%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextEra Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Avitas Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,299,000 after buying an additional 1,057 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 35,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,137,000 after buying an additional 2,899 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.7% in the third quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 383,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,995,000 after buying an additional 6,325 shares during the period. Asio Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,701,000. Finally, Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 7.3% in the third quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after buying an additional 1,211 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Company Profile

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.