Wedbush Securities Inc. Increases Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 24.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 64,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,738 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $4,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.3% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,845,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $365,783,000 after purchasing an additional 60,324 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 286.0% during the third quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 22,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after buying an additional 16,322 shares in the last quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 6.5% during the second quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 45,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,125,000 after buying an additional 2,767 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 61.8% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 60,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,604,000 after buying an additional 23,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,966,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. HSBC raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $104.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Armando Pimentel, Jr. sold 145,140 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.91, for a total transaction of $12,178,697.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 162,693 shares in the company, valued at $13,651,569.63. The trade was a 47.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ronald R. Reagan sold 18,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $1,675,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $867,870. This represents a 65.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 304,189 shares of company stock worth $26,373,239 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 0.7%

NextEra Energy stock opened at $91.44 on Thursday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.72 and a 52-week high of $91.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.79, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $83.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.89.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.93% and a return on equity of 12.18%. NextEra Energy’s revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

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.