Jefferies Financial Group Cuts NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE:NEP) Price Target to $27.00

NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE:NEP) had its price objective decreased by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $28.00 to $27.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the solar energy provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 28.51% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on NEP. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of NextEra Energy Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of NextEra Energy Partners from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $22.00 in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of NextEra Energy Partners from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of NextEra Energy Partners from $33.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of NextEra Energy Partners from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.85.

NextEra Energy Partners Stock Performance

NEP stock opened at $21.01 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.89 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.77. NextEra Energy Partners has a fifty-two week low of $20.82 and a fifty-two week high of $35.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE:NEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The solar energy provider reported ($0.43) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.94). The company had revenue of $319.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $332.25 million. NextEra Energy Partners had a negative return on equity of 0.40% and a net margin of 24.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that NextEra Energy Partners will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of NextEra Energy Partners

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. ClearBridge Investments Ltd raised its holdings in NextEra Energy Partners by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 4,161,433 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $125,176,000 after buying an additional 250,456 shares during the period. M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy Partners in the 1st quarter valued at about $83,069,000. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy Partners by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 802,161 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $22,172,000 after purchasing an additional 46,718 shares during the period. Redwood Grove Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy Partners by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Redwood Grove Capital LLC now owns 776,555 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $23,359,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy Partners by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 635,881 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $19,127,000 after purchasing an additional 22,370 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.01% of the company’s stock.

About NextEra Energy Partners

NextEra Energy Partners, LP acquires, owns, and manages contracted clean energy projects in the United States. It owns a portfolio of contracted renewable generation assets consisting of wind, solar, and battery storage projects. The company owns contracted natural gas pipeline assets. NextEra Energy Partners, LP was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Juno Beach, Florida.