NFJ Investment Group LLC Trims Stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

NFJ Investment Group LLC cut its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,164,130 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 29,002 shares during the quarter. NextEra Energy accounts for approximately 2.7% of NFJ Investment Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. NFJ Investment Group LLC owned approximately 0.06% of NextEra Energy worth $83,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NEE. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 23,283 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,669,000 after buying an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Delaney Dennis R bought a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $239,000. Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 114.1% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 101,496 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $7,276,000 after purchasing an additional 54,091 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 54,362 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,184 shares during the period. Finally, Rench Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in NextEra Energy by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 71,588 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,132,000 after purchasing an additional 2,932 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NEE. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on NextEra Energy from $97.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $89.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of NextEra Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.15.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NextEra Energy stock traded up $0.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $66.29. The stock had a trading volume of 11,210,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,804,052. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The firm's 50 day moving average is $69.63 and its 200 day moving average is $73.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $61.72 and a one year high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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, sell-side analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.5665 dividend. This is an increase from NextEra Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. NextEra Energy's payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

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.