NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.05 EPS

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.05, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $7.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.11 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 24.45%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share.

NextEra Energy Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:NEE traded down $2.14 during trading on Thursday, hitting $82.82. 9,705,078 shares of the company's stock traded hands, 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 current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $170.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $82.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.96.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. NextEra Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada cut NextEra Energy from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday. Guggenheim raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $86.38.

Insider Activity

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 owns 100 shares in the company, valued at $7,697. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.