Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Buys 16,989 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,172,832 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,989 shares during the quarter. NextEra Energy makes up about 1.3% of Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $88,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 213,799,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,139,726,000 after purchasing an additional 922,500 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the second quarter valued at about $2,375,545,000. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,267,265,000 after buying an additional 373,088 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.1% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,786,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,165,896,000 after buying an additional 340,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 18.7% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 10,796,329 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $749,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,701,648 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $2,700,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 167,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,073,290. The trade was a 15.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Terrell Kirk Crews II sold 19,672 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.27, for a total value of $1,775,791.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 73,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,667,071.39. This trade represents a 21.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 185,882 shares of company stock worth $16,616,757 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NEE stock traded up $0.98 on Friday, hitting $92.71. 1,872,075 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,890,149. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.22 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.71. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $61.72 and a one year high of $95.91. 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 (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.93% and a return on equity of 12.18%. The business had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.6232 dividend. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $2.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus set a $92.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $106.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $95.00 price objective on NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. 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, NextEra Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.16.

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.