NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Shares Up 1.1% - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• NextEra Energy shares rose 1.1% in midday trading, with volume well above average, as investors reacted positively to the latest stream of bullish analyst coverage.
• UBS initiated the stock at Buy and Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded it to strong-buy, while several other firms raised price targets. The consensus analyst view remains Moderate Buy with an average target price of $99.57.
• The company continues to draw support from its clean-energy portfolio, renewables backlog, and data-center-driven power demand, while its latest quarter beat EPS estimates and it pays a quarterly dividend yielding about 2.9%.

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $87.58 and last traded at $86.6690. 19,299,030 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 87% from the average session volume of 10,343,986 shares. The stock had previously closed at $85.73.

Key Stories Impacting NextEra Energy

Here are the key news stories impacting NextEra Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: UBS analyst William Appicelli initiated a Buy rating, citing expected merger synergies from the Dominion deal and upside from data-center-driven electricity demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded NextEra Energy (NEE) to strong-buy, reinforcing the market’s optimism around the company’s long-term earnings power. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles highlighted NextEra’s clean-energy portfolio, renewables backlog, stable cash flow, and improving return on equity, all of which support a bullish view on future growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: One piece argued that NextEra could be undervalued based on its Dominion data-center story, suggesting the market may still be underpricing future growth. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Other coverage was broadly constructive but more thematic than company-specific, including a general utility-income article and a broader nuclear/power-demand discussion that mentioned NEE as a defensive utility name. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: NextEra also received a new rating from Bernstein in press coverage, but the article snippet does not provide enough detail to gauge the full implications beyond continued analyst attention. Article Title

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NEE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $102.00 price target on NextEra Energy and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $112.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, HSBC boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $99.57.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 1.1%

The company has a market cap of $180.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $90.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $88.28.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.06. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 29.36% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. NextEra Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.920-4.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.6232 dividend. This represents a $2.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. NextEra Energy's payout ratio is presently 63.36%.

Institutional Trading of NextEra Energy

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 216,033,697 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $17,343,185,000 after acquiring an additional 2,234,176 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.1% in 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 acquired a new stake in NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $2,816,327,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.6% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in NextEra Energy by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,281,357 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,387,347,000 after acquiring an additional 485,854 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About NextEra Energy

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.

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