Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 3,797 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 420,259 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,797 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $29,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $2,561,055,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 22.3% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,961,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $443,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268,900 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,631,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $402,774,000 after acquiring an additional 629,032 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,100,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $431,966,000 after acquiring an additional 409,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 5,981,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $423,568,000 after acquiring an additional 388,149 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on NEE. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total transaction of $50,646.26. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,697. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NEE opened at $83.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $171.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.93. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $47.15 and a fifty-two week high of $83.57.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.29 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.45% and a return on equity of 11.75%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.13%.

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.