Berkeley Capital Partners LLC Sells 944 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Berkeley Capital Partners LLC cut its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 944 shares during the quarter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 14.7% during the 4th 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 during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its position in NextEra Energy by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,823,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,714,000 after purchasing an additional 41,328 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,436 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,964,000 after buying an additional 27,340 shares during the period. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 171,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,312,000 after buying an additional 9,425 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 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 for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,867,504.43. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NEE opened at $70.47 on Thursday. 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 has a 50 day moving average price of $70.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.66. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.29 and a fifty-two week high of $86.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.96 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. Equities analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.5665 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is 67.06%.

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.