Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA Decreases Stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA cut its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 23.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,189 shares during the period. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,703,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525,436 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in NextEra Energy by 167.7% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,186,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $184,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,369,689 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in NextEra Energy by 13,375.2% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 946,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,835,000 after acquiring an additional 939,209 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 42,418,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,571,650,000 after buying an additional 820,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in 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 worth $1,041,210,000 after purchasing an additional 588,038 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NEE stock opened at $70.17 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $144.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.82, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $70.44 and a 200-day moving average of $76.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.95 and a 1-year high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. 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. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank upped their price target 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 increased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.85.

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.