NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) shares gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $99.00 to $90.00. The stock had previously closed at $73.83, but opened at $72.33. NextEra Energy shares last traded at $71.14, with a volume of 2,160,716 shares trading hands.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on NEE. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of NextEra Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,007 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,193,401.44. This represents a 20.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NextEra Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,436 shares in the last quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 1,216,077 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $102,495,000 after buying an additional 26,270 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 6,098,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $515,481,000 after buying an additional 21,400 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,964,000 after buying an additional 27,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 171,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,312,000 after purchasing an additional 9,425 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $145.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $73.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.19.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 11.94%. On average, analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.41 EPS for the current year.

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.