NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Shares Purchased by Equitable Trust Co.

Equitable Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 20.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 40,639 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,036 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $3,435,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 0.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,298,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,508,155,000 after purchasing an additional 143,748 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,178,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $579,097,000 after acquiring an additional 691,341 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 14.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,809,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $575,573,000 after acquiring an additional 851,873 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 7.2% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,100,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $431,966,000 after acquiring an additional 409,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.9% in the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 5,981,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $423,568,000 after acquiring an additional 388,149 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on NEE shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered NextEra Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $87.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.54.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of NEE opened at $76.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $158.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.57. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $53.81 and a one year high of $86.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $82.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.11.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.05. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 26.49%. The company had revenue of $7.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. NextEra Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.95%.

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.