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

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders acquired 31,555 call options on the company. This is an increase of 56% compared to the typical daily volume of 20,163 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on NEE. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of NextEra Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank increased 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, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $87.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,007 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.57, for a total value of $302,808.99. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of NextEra Energy

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in 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 worth $326,388,000 after buying an additional 3,817,037 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 4,058.2% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,366,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $200,065,000 after buying an additional 2,309,876 shares during 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 valued at $634,703,000 after buying an additional 1,525,436 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 167.7% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,186,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $184,795,000 after buying an additional 1,369,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 14.3% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,809,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $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.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE NEE opened at $72.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.12. NextEra Energy has a 1 year low of $53.95 and a 1 year high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted 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 net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 11.94%. As a group, research analysts expect that NextEra Energy will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.