Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Decreases Stock Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. reduced its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 58.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 113,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 158,225 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $8,121,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted 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 last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.3% during 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 last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.9% during the 4th 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 lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,964,000 after purchasing an additional 27,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 5.8% in 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 currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NEE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Eight investment 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,867,504.43. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 1.0 %

NextEra Energy stock opened at $71.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $146.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $61.29 and a 52 week high of $86.10. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $70.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.5665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.