Vest Financial LLC Has $56.52 Million Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Vest Financial LLC lessened its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 668,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,225 shares during the quarter. NextEra Energy accounts for approximately 1.1% of Vest Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $56,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. M&G Plc bought a new position in NextEra Energy in the first quarter valued at about $303,065,000. Zimmer Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 8,447.5% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 2,735,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $174,807,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,200 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its position in NextEra Energy by 400.7% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 2,812,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $179,728,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250,500 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 57.0% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 5,957,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $421,831,000 after purchasing an additional 2,163,437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LGT Group Foundation boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 962.8% in the second quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 1,514,482 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,240,000 after buying an additional 1,371,982 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $87.00 price target on the stock. Dbs Bank cut NextEra Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total value of $50,646.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,697. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 0.7 %

NEE traded up $0.60 during trading on Friday, reaching $84.38. 8,595,305 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,786,079. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $81.81 and its 200 day moving average is $75.52. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.95 and a 12 month high of $86.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.36 billion, a PE ratio of 22.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.56.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 24.45%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 56.13%.

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.