NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Price Target Increased to $73.00 by Analysts at Scotiabank

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) had its price objective increased by Scotiabank from $69.00 to $73.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector outperform rating on the utilities provider's stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Mizuho restated a buy rating and set a $67.00 target price (up previously from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $69.93.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NEE traded up $1.01 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $65.31. The stock had a trading volume of 14,744,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,908,980. The company has a market cap of $134.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a fifty day moving average of $59.89 and a 200 day moving average of $58.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.55. NextEra Energy has a 1 year low of $47.15 and a 1 year high of $79.25.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 26.00%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NextEra Energy will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were issued a $0.515 dividend. This is an increase from NextEra Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. NextEra Energy's dividend payout ratio is 57.06%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NextEra Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 16.7% in the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 10,866 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $623,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551 shares during the last quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 3.1% in the third quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 128,364 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,354,000 after acquiring an additional 3,817 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 56.9% in the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 76,066 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,358,000 after acquiring an additional 27,592 shares during the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 8.8% in the third quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 31,701 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,816,000 after acquiring an additional 2,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 17.7% in the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,468,340 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $84,049,000 after acquiring an additional 221,310 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.