Verity & Verity LLC Has $14.05 Million Stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Verity & Verity LLC raised its position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 195,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,319 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $14,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 42,418,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,571,650,000 after purchasing an additional 820,704 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,298,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,508,155,000 after buying an additional 143,748 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,284,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,122,963,000 after buying an additional 86,758 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,703,000 after buying an additional 1,525,436 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 5.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,630,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $729,559,000 after acquiring an additional 452,590 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,007 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.57, for a total value of $302,808.99. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NEE has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Dbs Bank downgraded NextEra Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.15.

NextEra Energy Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:NEE opened at $70.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.41. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.95 and a 52-week high of $86.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.16. The firm has a market cap of $145.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.58.

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

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.