NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:NEP) Shares Sold by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:NEP – Get Rating) by 11.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,757 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock after selling 13,005 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in NextEra Energy Partners were worth $6,992,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy Partners by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,609,845 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $634,357,000 after acquiring an additional 356,265 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy Partners by 0.8% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,188,292 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $162,284,000 after purchasing an additional 16,707 shares during the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy Partners by 1.3% in the third quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 1,765,352 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $127,652,000 after purchasing an additional 22,380 shares during the last quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy Partners by 94.8% in the first quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 1,541,145 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $128,470,000 after purchasing an additional 750,144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy Partners by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. M&G Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,463,418 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $102,439,000 after purchasing an additional 217,683 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NEP. CIBC upgraded NextEra Energy Partners from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 8th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of NextEra Energy Partners in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of NextEra Energy Partners from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of NextEra Energy Partners from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $81.00 to $73.00 in a report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of NextEra Energy Partners from $81.00 to $74.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy Partners

In other news, Director Peter H. Kind bought 1,750 shares of NextEra Energy Partners stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $56.89 per share, with a total value of $99,557.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 32,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,839,822.60. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NEP stock opened at $62.27 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s 50 day moving average is $60.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. NextEra Energy Partners, LP has a 12-month low of $51.58 and a 12-month high of $86.06.

NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE:NEP – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The solar energy provider reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.48). The company had revenue of $301.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $355.92 million. NextEra Energy Partners had a net margin of 25.91% and a return on equity of 2.38%. NextEra Energy Partners’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. Analysts expect that NextEra Energy Partners, LP will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.8425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 4th. This represents a $3.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.41%. This is a boost from NextEra Energy Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. NextEra Energy Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.39%.

NextEra Energy Partners Company Profile

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NextEra Energy Partners LP engages in the acquisition, management, and ownership of contracted clean energy projects with long-term cash flows. It owns interests in wind and solar projects in North America and natural gas infrastructure assets in Texas. The company was founded on March 6, 2014 and is headquartered in Juno Beach, FL.