Bank of America Boosts NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Price Target to $67.00

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) had its target price boosted by Bank of America from $61.00 to $67.00 in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

NEE has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a sector outperform rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $71.50.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 0.5 %

NEE stock opened at $66.90 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $60.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.94. NextEra Energy has a 12 month low of $47.15 and a 12 month high of $78.53. The company has a market cap of $137.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.11. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. NextEra Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that NextEra Energy will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.13%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextEra Energy

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Avitas Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,299,000 after purchasing an additional 1,057 shares during the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 35,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,137,000 after purchasing an additional 2,899 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 383,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,995,000 after purchasing an additional 6,325 shares during the last quarter. Asio Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $2,701,000. Finally, Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.