NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Price Target Lowered to $68.00 at BMO Capital Markets

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) had its price target cut by BMO Capital Markets from $77.00 to $68.00 in a research report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on NEE. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com lowered 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 set a $67.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an equal weight rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $71.36.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NEE opened at $64.31 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $131.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.81, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.89 and a 200 day moving average of $58.51. NextEra Energy has a twelve month low of $47.15 and a twelve month high of $79.78.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.72 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.00% and a return on equity of 11.73%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were issued a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NEE. Norges Bank bought a new position in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter worth $2,561,055,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 66,613.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,263,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,530,055,000 after purchasing an additional 30,218,452 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 37.7% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,049,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,278,553,000 after purchasing an additional 5,764,842 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $141,817,000. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 400.7% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 2,812,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $179,728,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250,500 shares during the last quarter. 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.