Insider Selling: NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) CEO Sells 99,603 Shares of Stock

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) CEO John Ketchum sold 99,603 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.34, for a total transaction of $8,898,532.02. Following the completion of the sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 1.5%

NEE traded up $1.37 on Tuesday, reaching $90.85. 7,210,488 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,620,289. The company has a market cap of $189.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.61, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $82.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.67. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.72 and a 52-week high of $91.96.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released 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 net margin of 24.93% and a return on equity of 12.18%. The company had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextEra Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 216,033,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,343,185,000 after buying an additional 2,234,176 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 47,272,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,781,790,000 after buying an additional 966,152 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter worth $2,816,327,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 16,787,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,267,265,000 after acquiring an additional 373,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,786,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,165,896,000 after acquiring an additional 340,315 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NEE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $104.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Argus set a $92.00 price target on NextEra Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. UBS Group set a $91.00 price objective on NextEra Energy and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.95.

About NextEra Energy

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.