Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Sells 429 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA trimmed its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 204,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 429 shares during the quarter. NextEra Energy accounts for 1.6% of Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $14,636,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NEE. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 1.8% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 299,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,293,000 after purchasing an additional 5,409 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in NextEra Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $331,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 39.5% during the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 1,243 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the third quarter valued at about $495,000. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total transaction of $162,258.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on NEE. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.85.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 1.1 %

NEE stock opened at $70.17 on Friday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.95 and a 52 week high of $86.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.32. The company has a market capitalization of $144.34 billion, a PE ratio of 20.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 28.06% and a return on equity of 11.85%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

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.