Financial Counselors Inc. Boosts Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 10.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 124,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,945 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $10,526,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 154,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,047,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.9% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 358,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,316,000 after acquiring an additional 10,200 shares during the last quarter. Tybourne Capital Management HK Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 5.2% in the third quarter. Tybourne Capital Management HK Ltd. now owns 26,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,226,000 after acquiring an additional 1,307 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.4% during the third quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 295,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,989,000 after purchasing an additional 4,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 771,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,248,000 after purchasing an additional 28,647 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NEE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $87.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank raised their target price on NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NextEra Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.85.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NEE stock opened at $78.52 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $80.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.80. 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 1 year low of $53.95 and a 1 year high of $86.10. The firm has a market cap of $161.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.23, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.57.

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

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 60.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In related news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.57, for a total transaction of $302,808.99. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,193,401.44. This trade represents a 20.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.