Connors Investor Services Inc. Reduces Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Connors Investor Services Inc. decreased its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,165 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 460 shares during the period. Connors Investor Services Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $224,000 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. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $303,065,000. Zimmer Partners LP raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 8,447.5% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 2,735,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $174,807,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,200 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 400.7% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 2,812,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $179,728,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250,500 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 57.0% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 5,957,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $421,831,000 after purchasing an additional 2,163,437 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter worth $114,953,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the business’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 value of $50,646.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 100 shares in the company, valued at $7,697. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on NEE. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on NextEra Energy from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.50.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:NEE opened at $84.63 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $173.88 billion, a PE ratio of 23.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.66. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $47.15 and a 1-year high of $85.56.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 24.45%. The company had revenue of $6.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.