NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) Stock Price Down 2.9% - Should You Sell?

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 2.9% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $79.57 and last traded at $80.50. 6,968,747 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 35% from the average session volume of 10,701,115 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.87.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NEE. Dbs Bank cut NextEra Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a "hold" rating and a $87.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $86.54.

NextEra Energy Stock Down 4.0 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $163.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.56.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $7.57 billion for 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. NextEra Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.13%.

Insider Transactions at NextEra Energy

In other news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,697. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 35.7% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 100,308 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,411,000 after buying an additional 26,382 shares in the last quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.2% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 26,270 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 10.6% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 79,994 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,112,000 after purchasing an additional 7,677 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 1,224.3% in the second quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 72,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,130,000 after purchasing an additional 66,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 57.0% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 5,957,220 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $421,831,000 after purchasing an additional 2,163,437 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.