NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE Shares Sold by KCM Investment Advisors LLC

KCM Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 366,065 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 15,869 shares during the period. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $27,634,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $16,139,726,000 after acquiring an additional 922,500 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 45,724,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,161,774,000 after purchasing an additional 526,996 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the second quarter valued at $2,375,545,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.1% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,786,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,165,896,000 after purchasing an additional 340,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.6% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NYSE NEE opened at $92.62 on Thursday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.72 and a 1 year high of $95.91. The business’s fifty day moving average is $86.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $192.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.15 and a beta of 0.76. 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 24.93%.The business had revenue of $6.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on NEE. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Mizuho set a $90.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded NextEra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. HSBC lifted their price target on NextEra Energy from $96.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $106.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Friday, February 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO John W. Ketchum sold 99,603 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 305,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,332,054.22. This trade represents a 24.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Ronald R. Reagan sold 18,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $1,675,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $867,870. This trade represents a 65.88% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 159,049 shares of company stock worth $14,194,542 over the last ninety days. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NextEra Energy 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.