Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 26,850 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB trimmed its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 256,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 26,850 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $15,577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NEE. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $141,817,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,784,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $337,096,000 after buying an additional 2,148,205 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 7,999.6% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,173,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $132,016,000 after buying an additional 2,146,625 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 198,430,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,368,065,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956,153 shares during the period. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $94,883,000. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 1.3 %

NEE stock opened at $66.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $135.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.33, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.51. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $47.15 and a fifty-two week high of $79.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $60.26 and a 200-day moving average of $58.83.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.28 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 26.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Scotiabank upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays began coverage on NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.93.

About NextEra Energy

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.