Atlas Brown Inc. Increases Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Atlas Brown Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Atlas Brown Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $979,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 846.9% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 55,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,937,000 after purchasing an additional 49,740 shares in the last quarter. Andra AP fonden purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $92,000. Eagle Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $473,000. Wealthgarden F.S. LLC purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $237,000. Finally, Trueblood Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,063,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on NEE. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $87.00 price objective for the company. Dbs Bank lowered NextEra Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of NextEra Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $87.15.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NEE stock traded down $3.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $67.23. 11,801,387 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,420,885. The firm has a market cap of $138.25 billion, a PE ratio of 19.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.31. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.95 and a 1-year high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. NextEra Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 60.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,007 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.57, for a total value of $302,808.99. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,792 shares in the company, valued at $1,193,401.44. This represents a 20.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.