NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Price Target Raised to $72.00 at BMO Capital Markets

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) had its target price raised by BMO Capital Markets from $70.00 to $72.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a sector outperform rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $71.50.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NEE opened at $65.99 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. NextEra Energy has a twelve month low of $47.15 and a twelve month high of $78.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.11. The stock has a market cap of $135.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.51.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.11. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 27.62%. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a $0.515 dividend. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.13%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NEE. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter worth $2,561,055,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the third quarter worth $141,817,000. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 400.7% in the first 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. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 59.1% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,784,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,096,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 7,999.6% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,173,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146,625 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.