NextEra Energy Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:NEE)

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 32,735 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 63% compared to the average daily volume of 20,079 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NEE shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.85.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 3.7 %

Shares of NEE traded up $2.73 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $75.56. The stock had a trading volume of 12,441,176 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,380,467. The firm has a market cap of $155.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. NextEra Energy has a 12-month low of $56.55 and a 12-month high of $86.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.03.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 28.06% and a return on equity of 11.85%. Equities research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total value of $162,258.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextEra Energy

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 45,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,267,000 after purchasing an additional 5,831 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,823,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,714,000 after buying an additional 41,328 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position 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. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 6,098,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $515,481,000 after buying an additional 21,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,964,000 after acquiring an additional 27,340 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.