Mizuho Reiterates “Buy” Rating for NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE)

Mizuho reiterated their buy rating on shares of NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $67.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $65.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Citigroup started coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Friday, December 8th. They issued a buy rating and a $69.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of NextEra Energy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, November 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $74.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $72.38.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 0.1 %

NEE stock traded up $0.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $60.17. The company had a trading volume of 17,071,259 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,902,995. NextEra Energy has a 52 week low of $47.15 and a 52 week high of $79.78. The company has a market cap of $123.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.67, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50 day moving average of $57.66 and a 200 day moving average of $58.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.00% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The company had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NextEra Energy will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 57.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. United Bank lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 9.8% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 9,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $844,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its position in NextEra Energy by 9.2% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 32,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,726,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in NextEra Energy by 11.2% in the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 15,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,587 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its position in NextEra Energy by 59.1% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 878 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the period. Finally, Ergoteles LLC bought a new position in NextEra Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $793,000. Institutional investors own 76.48% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Company Profile

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.