Goelzer Investment Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Goelzer Investment Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 56.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 26,820 shares during the period. Goelzer Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $1,659,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 213,799,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,139,726,000 after purchasing an additional 922,500 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in NextEra Energy by 2.3% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 16,787,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,267,265,000 after purchasing an additional 373,088 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 16.7% during the third quarter. Amundi now owns 12,461,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,012,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,780,881 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 18.7% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 10,796,329 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $749,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701,648 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 7,585,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $572,642,000 after purchasing an additional 141,081 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In related news, Treasurer James Michael May sold 7,161 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.27, for a total value of $646,423.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer owned 26,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,411,924.13. This represents a 21.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO John W. Ketchum sold 99,603 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.34, for a total value of $8,898,532.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 305,933 shares in the company, valued at $27,332,054.22. This represents a 24.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 190,816 shares of company stock valued at $17,075,619. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NEE stock opened at $91.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The company has a market cap of $190.53 billion, a PE ratio of 27.79 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.27. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $61.72 and a 52 week high of $95.91.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.07 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.93% and a return on equity of 12.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were given a $0.6232 dividend. This represents a $2.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on NEE shares. Erste Group Bank raised shares of NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered NextEra Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.44.

NextEra Energy Company Profile

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.