Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,845,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 264,872 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $388,973,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 197,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,841,000 after purchasing an additional 17,813 shares in the last quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares in the last quarter. McHugh Group LLC lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. McHugh Group LLC now owns 6,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Gouws Capital LLC lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Gouws Capital LLC now owns 82,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,629,000 after purchasing an additional 3,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 26,123 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,097,000 after purchasing an additional 862 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:NEE opened at $95.53 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $92.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The company has a market cap of $199.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.73. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $63.88 and a twelve month high of $98.75.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.43 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 29.36% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. NextEra Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.920-4.02 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.6232 per share. This represents a $2.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 63.36%.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 30,000 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $2,700,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 167,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,073,290. The trade was a 15.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ronald R. Reagan sold 18,620 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $1,675,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,643 shares in the company, valued at $867,870. This trade represents a 65.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 179,990 shares of company stock valued at $16,155,409 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on NEE shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $107.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $102.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.37.

About NextEra Energy

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.