Wright Investors Service Inc. Sells 6,666 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Wright Investors Service Inc. cut its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 10.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,454 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,666 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $3,368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NEE. United Bank lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.8% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 9,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $844,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.2% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 32,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,726,000 after buying an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 11.2% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 15,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,587 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 59.1% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 878 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the first quarter worth approximately $793,000. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on NEE. Guggenheim upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Barclays initiated coverage on NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $67.00 price objective (up previously from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Friday, March 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.36.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NYSE:NEE traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $63.91. 2,840,373 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,748,639. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $47.15 and a one year high of $79.78. The company has a market capitalization of $131.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $59.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.00% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The firm had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 57.06%.

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.