West Paces Advisors Inc. Reduces Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

West Paces Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,122 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $966,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, HBC Financial Services PLLC acquired a new stake in NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NEE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.36.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NextEra Energy stock traded down $1.05 on Tuesday, hitting $61.70. The company had a trading volume of 11,529,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,821,353. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $47.15 and a 52 week high of $79.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $126.63 billion, a PE ratio of 17.14, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.32.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.72 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 26.00%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.06%.

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.