First Trust Advisors LP Has $79.57 Million Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,053,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 236,735 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.05% of NextEra Energy worth $79,566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NextEra Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,375,545,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 212,877,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,777,923,000 after purchasing an additional 5,554,603 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in NextEra Energy by 1,765.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,968,305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $299,567,000 after purchasing an additional 3,755,563 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 10,796,329 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $749,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701,648 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 181.9% during the 2nd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 2,185,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $151,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,410,200 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Ronald R. Reagan sold 18,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $1,675,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 9,643 shares in the company, valued at $867,870. This represents a 65.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $2,700,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 167,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,073,290. This represents a 15.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 159,049 shares of company stock valued at $14,194,542 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on NEE shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $87.00 price target on NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $106.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Argus set a $92.00 price objective on NextEra Energy and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.16.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE NEE opened at $92.05 on Tuesday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.72 and a twelve month high of $95.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $191.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.98 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.48.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.07 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.93% and a return on equity of 12.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be paid a $0.6232 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $2.49 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 75.68%.

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.