Advisors Preferred LLC Purchases New Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $390,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Copia Wealth Management purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in NextEra Energy by 237.7% in the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the first quarter worth about $40,000. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NEE has been the subject of a number of research reports. HSBC reduced their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of NextEra Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on NextEra Energy from $86.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, Treasurer James Michael May sold 2,177 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.50, for a total value of $168,717.50. Following the transaction, the treasurer directly owned 27,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,143,805. This represents a 7.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 23,684 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 196,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,190. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NEE opened at $72.92 on Thursday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.72 and a 1-year high of $86.10. The stock has a market cap of $150.11 billion, a PE ratio of 27.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.04. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 21.81% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a $0.5665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is 84.64%.

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.