Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 507,670 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 49.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 521,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 507,670 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $36,994,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NEE. Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new stake in NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter valued at $240,269,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 8,456.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,458,536 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $174,286,000 after buying an additional 2,429,804 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,090,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,655,353,000 after buying an additional 2,030,331 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter valued at $124,106,000. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 361.4% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,188,967 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $151,547,000 after buying an additional 1,714,575 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In related news, EVP Robert Coffey sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.84, for a total transaction of $538,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 26,539 shares in the company, valued at $1,906,561.76. The trade was a 22.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 23,684 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $1,657,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 196,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,190. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,361 shares of company stock worth $2,365,398 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Erste Group Bank lowered NextEra Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on NextEra Energy from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on NextEra Energy from $102.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.42.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE NEE opened at $70.41 on Friday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.72 and a 1-year high of $86.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $72.26 and a 200-day moving average of $70.53. The firm has a market cap of $144.99 billion, a PE ratio of 24.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.63.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.04. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 22.84%. The company had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. NextEra Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 28th. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 79.37%.

NextEra Energy Company 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.