Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE)

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders purchased 37,010 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 54% compared to the typical volume of 24,098 call options.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NEE opened at $74.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.08. The firm has a market cap of $153.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.11, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.65. NextEra Energy has a 1 year low of $61.72 and a 1 year high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.52 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 22.84%.The business’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 28th were issued a $0.5665 dividend. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 28th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on NEE shares. Melius Research upgraded NextEra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Melius assumed coverage on NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho set a $78.00 price objective on NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday, August 21st. HSBC cut their target price on NextEra Energy from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price target (down from $96.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Mark Lemasney sold 846 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total transaction of $60,827.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 10,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $727,124.70. This trade represents a 7.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Treasurer James Michael May sold 2,177 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.50, for a total transaction of $168,717.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer owned 27,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,143,805. This trade represents a 7.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,523 shares of company stock worth $1,476,245 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NextEra Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NEE. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NextEra Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,375,545,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 58.4% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 17,236,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,221,896,000 after purchasing an additional 6,352,798 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 212,877,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,777,923,000 after buying an additional 5,554,603 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 20.7% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,446,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,165,748,000 after buying an additional 2,815,629 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 27.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 12,200,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $878,447,000 after buying an additional 2,657,438 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.