Nixon Peabody Trust Co. Has $8.02 Million Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. lessened its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 111,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 360 shares during the quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $8,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 45,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,267,000 after buying an additional 5,831 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,703,000 after buying an additional 1,525,436 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,823,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,714,000 after purchasing an additional 41,328 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 6,098,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $515,481,000 after purchasing an additional 21,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,964,000 after purchasing an additional 27,340 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NEE. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 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 stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.85.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 1.1 %

NEE stock opened at $70.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.32. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.95 and a 52 week high of $86.10. The company has a market capitalization of $144.34 billion, a PE ratio of 20.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 28.06% and a return on equity of 11.85%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 paid a $0.5665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 67.06%.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total transaction of $162,258.47. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.