Country Trust Bank Boosts Stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Country Trust Bank increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 14.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 343,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 42,502 shares during the quarter. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $25,951,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 28,282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,028,000 after purchasing an additional 1,840 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in NextEra Energy by 38.4% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 12,542 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $887,000 after buying an additional 3,479 shares during the last quarter. Balefire LLC acquired a new stake in NextEra Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $267,000. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 98,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,828,000 after acquiring an additional 14,554 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Armando Pimentel, Jr. sold 145,140 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.91, for a total value of $12,178,697.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 162,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,651,569.63. This trade represents a 47.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NEE has been the subject of several recent research reports. HSBC raised their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. Mizuho increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $78.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $87.00 price objective on NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday. New Street Research set a $84.00 target price on NextEra Energy in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their target price on NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.50.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $82.19 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.55. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.72 and a fifty-two week high of $87.53. The company has a market cap of $171.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.74.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.42% and a net margin of 24.72%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 21st. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.29%.

NextEra Energy Company Profile

NextEra Energy, Inc (NYSE: NEE), headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida, is a leading clean energy company with both regulated utility operations and competitive renewable generation businesses. The company’s principal operating subsidiaries include Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), a regulated electric utility serving customers in Florida, and NextEra Energy Resources, which develops, constructs, owns and operates a large portfolio of wind, solar and energy storage projects. Together these businesses provide electricity supply, transmission and distribution services as well as utility-scale renewable generation and related services.

NextEra’s activities cover the full lifecycle of power assets, from project development and construction to operation, maintenance and asset optimization.