HM Payson & Co. Increases Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

HM Payson & Co. boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 61,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,657 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $5,172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 64.0% during the second quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 197.4% during the second quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in NextEra Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in NextEra Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the second quarter worth $40,000. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NEE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.54.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NEE traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $78.97. 1,362,748 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,723,984. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company’s 50 day moving average is $82.43 and its 200 day moving average is $76.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.56. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $53.81 and a one year high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $7.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.11 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.45% and a return on equity of 11.75%. The company’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.13%.

About NextEra Energy

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.