Palisade Asset Management LLC Purchases 2,535 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Palisade Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 9.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,535 shares during the period. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $2,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Somerset Trust Co boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 89,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,359,000 after purchasing an additional 4,445 shares during the period. Viking Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 67.8% in the first quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC now owns 495,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,091,000 after buying an additional 200,000 shares during the period. HFR Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. HFR Wealth Management LLC now owns 127,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,151,000 after acquiring an additional 1,799 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 75.3% during the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 3,313,252 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $237,527,000 after purchasing an additional 1,423,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter worth $96,115,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NEE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on NextEra Energy from $102.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 23,684 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $1,657,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 196,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,190. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE NEE opened at $70.82 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $145.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.68. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.72 and a twelve month high of $86.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $69.63 and its 200 day moving average is $70.21.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99. The firm had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.58 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 21.81%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $0.5665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 85.02%.

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.