NextEra Energy Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:NEE)

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Investors bought 31,555 call options on the company. This is an increase of 56% compared to the typical volume of 20,163 call options.

Insider Transactions at NextEra Energy

In other news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,007 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,193,401.44. The trade was a 20.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextEra Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 8,641.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,861,208 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $326,388,000 after acquiring an additional 3,817,037 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 4,058.2% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,366,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $200,065,000 after purchasing an additional 2,309,876 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,703,000 after buying an additional 1,525,436 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 167.7% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,186,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,369,689 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 14.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,809,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $575,573,000 after purchasing an additional 851,873 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on NEE. Dbs Bank cut NextEra Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.15.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NextEra Energy stock traded up $3.76 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $72.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,127,634 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,705,740. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.41. NextEra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $53.95 and a fifty-two week high of $86.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.10 billion, a PE ratio of 21.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.12.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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, equities research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy will post 3.41 earnings per share 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.