Morgan Stanley Cuts NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Price Target to $94.00

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) had its target price trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $94.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on NEE. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Dbs Bank lowered shares of NextEra Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of NextEra Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.85.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NEE opened at $76.00 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $80.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.75. NextEra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $53.95 and a fifty-two week high of $86.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.29 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.41.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $7.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.11 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 11.94%. NextEra Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that NextEra Energy will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.95%.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,007 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.57, for a total transaction of $302,808.99. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,193,401.44. This trade represents a 20.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NextEra Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 42,418,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,571,650,000 after buying an additional 820,704 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,298,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,508,155,000 after buying an additional 143,748 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,284,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,122,963,000 after buying an additional 86,758 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 5.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,630,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $729,559,000 after buying an additional 452,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 14.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,809,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $575,573,000 after buying an additional 851,873 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.