South Dakota Investment Council Decreases Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

South Dakota Investment Council lessened its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 133,460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,400 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $10,075,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 0.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 45,724,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,161,774,000 after acquiring an additional 526,996 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $2,375,545,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,786,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,165,896,000 after acquiring an additional 340,315 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 16,414,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,139,467,000 after purchasing an additional 408,198 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NEE. Argus set a $92.00 price objective on NextEra Energy and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $87.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $106.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.47.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO John W. Ketchum sold 99,603 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,332,054.22. This trade represents a 24.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $2,700,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 167,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,073,290. The trade was a 15.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 159,049 shares of company stock worth $14,194,542 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $92.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.60. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.72 and a fifty-two week high of $95.91. The company has a market cap of $192.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.14 and a beta of 0.75.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 24.93%.NextEra Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.6232 per share. This represents a $2.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.68%.

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.