NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Coverage Initiated at Jefferies Financial Group

Equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set a “hold” rating and a $87.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 5.12% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on NEE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho downgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $71.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.87.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 0.6 %

NEE stock opened at $82.76 on Thursday. NextEra Energy has a twelve month low of $47.15 and a twelve month high of $85.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.22.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.29 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.45% and a return on equity of 11.75%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total transaction of $50,646.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,697. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NextEra Energy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 0.7% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.2% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,178,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $579,097,000 after acquiring an additional 691,341 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 22.3% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,961,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $443,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268,900 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,631,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $402,774,000 after purchasing an additional 629,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,100,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $431,966,000 after purchasing an additional 409,708 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.