Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Lowers Stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 12.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,092 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,298,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,508,155,000 after acquiring an additional 143,748 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,178,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $579,097,000 after acquiring an additional 691,341 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,809,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $575,573,000 after acquiring an additional 851,873 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 7.2% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,100,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $431,966,000 after purchasing an additional 409,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 5,981,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $423,568,000 after buying an additional 388,149 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on NEE. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $87.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Dbs Bank lowered shares of NextEra Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.54.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:NEE opened at $76.98 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $82.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.11. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.81 and a 1 year high of $86.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.33.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.05. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The business had revenue of $7.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.95%.

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.