NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Now Covered by Analysts at Melius

Key Points

• Analysts at Melius have initiated coverage on NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE), assigning a "buy" rating and a target price of $77.00, suggesting a potential upside of 0.60% from its current price.
• The stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" among 16 analysts, with a consensus target price of $83.85.
• NextEra Energy reported a Q2 EPS of $1.05, exceeding expectations, although their revenue of $6.70 billion fell short of analyst predictions.

Stock analysts at Melius assumed coverage on shares of NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage set a "buy" rating and a $77.00 price target on the utilities provider's stock. Melius' target price suggests a potential upside of 0.60% from the company's current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. HSBC lowered 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Barclays lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Erste Group Bank cut NextEra Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $102.00 to $97.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $83.85.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NEE opened at $76.5420 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $72.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.54. NextEra Energy has a 52-week low of $61.72 and a 52-week high of $86.10. The company has a market cap of $157.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.76, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.63.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.96 EPS. Analysts predict that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Robert Coffey sold 7,500 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.84, for a total transaction of $538,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 26,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,906,561.76. The trade was a 22.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Treasurer James Michael May sold 2,177 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.50, for a total value of $168,717.50. Following the transaction, the treasurer owned 27,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,143,805. This represents a 7.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Activest Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 79.7% during the second quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 354 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new stake in NextEra Energy during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in NextEra Energy during the second quarter worth about $25,000. 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in NextEra Energy during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Quaker Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in NextEra Energy by 200.0% during the second quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 386 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 772 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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