Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD Decreases Stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD lowered its position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,118 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,513 shares during the period. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $869,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,436 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 167.7% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,186,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $184,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369,689 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 13,375.2% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 946,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,835,000 after acquiring an additional 939,209 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 42,418,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,571,650,000 after acquiring an additional 820,704 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,523,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,041,210,000 after acquiring an additional 588,038 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $72.86 on Friday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $56.31 and a one year high of $86.10. The company has a market cap of $149.88 billion, a PE ratio of 21.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.47. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.07.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 67.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total value of $162,258.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on NEE shares. Scotiabank lifted their price target on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.85.

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.