NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:NEP) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.89 Per Share

NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:NEP) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.8925 per share by the solar energy provider on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88.

NextEra Energy Partners has raised its dividend payment by an average of 14.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 10 years. NextEra Energy Partners has a payout ratio of 345.1% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect NextEra Energy Partners to earn $0.92 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $3.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 382.6%.

NextEra Energy Partners Stock Performance

NYSE NEP traded up $0.86 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $29.63. 1,782,483 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,388,839. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $28.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.71 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.28. NextEra Energy Partners has a fifty-two week low of $20.17 and a fifty-two week high of $63.89.

NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE:NEP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The solar energy provider reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.63. The company had revenue of $257.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $331.78 million. NextEra Energy Partners had a negative return on equity of 1.06% and a net margin of 16.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.17) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that NextEra Energy Partners will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised NextEra Energy Partners to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. CIBC downgraded NextEra Energy Partners from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on NextEra Energy Partners from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Marathon Capitl reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of NextEra Energy Partners in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Raymond James cut their price objective on NextEra Energy Partners from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.88.

About NextEra Energy Partners

NextEra Energy Partners, LP acquires, owns, and manages contracted clean energy projects in the United States. It owns a portfolio of contracted renewable generation assets consisting of wind, solar, and battery storage projects. The company owns contracted natural gas pipeline assets. NextEra Energy Partners, LP was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Juno Beach, Florida.