NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Reaches New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $95.59 and last traded at $95.4180, with a volume of 5243446 shares. The stock had previously closed at $94.06.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NEE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Seaport Research Partners decreased their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Mizuho set a $90.00 target price on NextEra Energy and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Argus set a $92.00 price target on NextEra Energy and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, HSBC raised their price objective on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.05.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $85.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $199.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.08, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.75.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.07 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.93% and a return on equity of 12.18%. NextEra Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.6232 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $2,700,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 167,481 shares in the company, valued at $15,073,290. This trade represents a 15.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Ronald R. Reagan sold 18,620 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $1,675,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $867,870. The trade was a 65.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 159,049 shares of company stock worth $14,194,542 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 216,033,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,343,185,000 after acquiring an additional 2,234,176 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 47,272,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,781,790,000 after buying an additional 966,152 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,816,327,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,365,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,474,407,000 after buying an additional 1,136,074 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,281,357 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,387,347,000 after buying an additional 485,854 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 (NYSE: NEE), headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida, is a leading clean energy company with both regulated utility operations and competitive renewable generation businesses. The company’s principal operating subsidiaries include Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), a regulated electric utility serving customers in Florida, and NextEra Energy Resources, which develops, constructs, owns and operates a large portfolio of wind, solar and energy storage projects. Together these businesses provide electricity supply, transmission and distribution services as well as utility-scale renewable generation and related services.

NextEra’s activities cover the full lifecycle of power assets, from project development and construction to operation, maintenance and asset optimization.