NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Raises Dividend to $0.57 Per Share

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 3.33%. 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 increased its dividend every year for the last 30 years. NextEra Energy has a payout ratio of 51.5% meaning 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 Performance

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $68.06 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $70.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.82. 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 $139.97 billion, a PE ratio of 20.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.58.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 28.06% and a return on equity of 11.85%. As a group, analysts expect that NextEra Energy will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank upped 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.