Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Has $4.86 Million Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 67,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,263 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $4,863,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 42,418,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,571,650,000 after buying an additional 820,704 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,298,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,508,155,000 after buying an additional 143,748 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,284,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,122,963,000 after buying an additional 86,758 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,703,000 after buying an additional 1,525,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,630,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $729,559,000 after buying an additional 452,590 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.57, for a total value of $302,808.99. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,792 shares in the company, valued at $1,193,401.44. This trade represents a 20.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE NEE traded down $0.96 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $66.42. 8,087,119 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,343,904. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.32. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.95 and a 1-year high of $86.10. The firm has a market cap of $136.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.65, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

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

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NEE has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded NextEra Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $87.00 target price for the company. Dbs Bank downgraded NextEra Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Scotiabank increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.15.

NextEra Energy Company Profile

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.