NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.57

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.5665 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52.

NextEra Energy has raised its dividend by an average of 10.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 30 consecutive years. NextEra Energy has a payout ratio of 51.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect NextEra Energy to earn $3.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.0%.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NEE opened at $68.06 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $139.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.86. NextEra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $53.95 and a fifty-two week high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 28.06% and a return on equity of 11.85%. Analysts expect that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on NEE shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of NextEra Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.85.

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.