NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.57 Per Share

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.5665 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52.

NextEra Energy has increased its dividend by an average of 10.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 30 consecutive years. NextEra Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 51.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect NextEra Energy to earn $3.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.0%.

NextEra Energy Stock Down 0.4 %

NextEra Energy stock traded down $0.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $68.35. 5,074,121 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,093,081. The business’s 50 day moving average is $71.12 and its 200 day moving average is $76.86. NextEra Energy has a 52 week low of $53.95 and a 52 week high of $86.10. The company has a market capitalization of $140.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.29, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. Analysts predict that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.85.

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.