First National Trust Co Reduces Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

First National Trust Co cut its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 241,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 28,533 shares during the period. First National Trust Co’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $14,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 198,430,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,368,065,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956,153 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,982,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,316,653,000 after buying an additional 455,271 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,352,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $593,106,000 after buying an additional 148,674 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 9,026,464 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $517,126,000 after buying an additional 209,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,784,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,096,000 after buying an additional 2,148,205 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.50.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NextEra Energy stock traded up $1.29 on Friday, reaching $70.14. The stock had a trading volume of 12,687,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,442,457. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.15 and a 1 year high of $78.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.50.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.28 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 11.72%. NextEra Energy’s revenue was down 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 56.13%.

NextEra Energy Profile

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.