Morgan Stanley Raises NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Price Target to $79.00

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) had its price objective hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $77.00 to $79.00 in a report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on NEE. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded NextEra Energy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Barclays started coverage on NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an equal weight rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $71.21.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NEE opened at $66.56 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $136.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.89. NextEra Energy has a 1-year low of $47.15 and a 1-year high of $79.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.28 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 26.00%. The company’s revenue was down 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextEra Energy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NEE. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter worth $2,561,055,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new position in NextEra Energy in the third quarter valued at $141,817,000. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 400.7% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 2,812,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $179,728,000 after acquiring an additional 2,250,500 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 59.1% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,784,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,096,000 after acquiring an additional 2,148,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 7,999.6% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,173,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,146,625 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

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.