Royal Bank of Canada Downgrades NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) to Hold

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on NEE. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Dbs Bank downgraded NextEra Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $86.38.

NextEra Energy Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NextEra Energy stock traded down $2.14 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $82.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,705,078 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,753,650. NextEra Energy has a 52 week low of $53.81 and a 52 week high of $86.10. The company has a market capitalization of $170.16 billion, a PE ratio of 22.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.49.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $7.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.11 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.45% and a return on equity of 11.75%. The business's revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that NextEra Energy will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total transaction of $50,646.26. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,697. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NEE. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 64.0% in the second quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 369 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 197.4% during the 2nd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 339 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the third quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the second quarter worth about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% 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.