AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 30,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,212,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 1.8% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 299,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,293,000 after purchasing an additional 5,409 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $183,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2,482.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in NextEra Energy by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 2,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baldwin Investment Management LLC raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 35,357 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,989,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on NEE. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.92.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $69.66 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $61.31 and a 12 month high of $86.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.5665 dividend. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 67.06%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total value of $162,258.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About NextEra Energy

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.