First Foundation Advisors Lowers Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

First Foundation Advisors cut its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 96,767 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,853 shares during the quarter. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $6,937,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 205,297,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,717,758,000 after buying an additional 2,090,538 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,484,197,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,778,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,129,132,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359,268 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,523,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,041,210,000 after purchasing an additional 588,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,630,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $977,191,000 after purchasing an additional 345,999 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

NextEra Energy Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NEE stock opened at $66.96 on Thursday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.31 and a 1 year high of $86.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $70.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $137.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.87, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) 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, equities analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.5665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 67.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on NEE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.92.

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.