WASHINGTON TRUST Co Sells 2,566 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

WASHINGTON TRUST Co reduced its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 0.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 327,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,566 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $22,738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 30.9% during the 2nd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 49,165 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,413,000 after buying an additional 11,603 shares in the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 4.7% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 313,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,752,000 after acquiring an additional 14,079 shares during the last quarter. Renasant Bank raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 34.5% during the second quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 17,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,202,000 after purchasing an additional 4,443 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 45,724,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,161,774,000 after purchasing an additional 526,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 59.5% during the 2nd quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA now owns 35,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,431,000 after buying an additional 13,060 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NEE shares. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $93.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Mizuho boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $78.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised NextEra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.22.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE NEE traded down $1.15 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $84.74. 593,614 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,313,471. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.72 and a 12-month high of $87.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $78.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $176.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.69.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.13 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.72% and a return on equity of 12.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a $0.5665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.97%.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In related news, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 11,336 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $906,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 167,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,398,480. The trade was a 6.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Mark Lemasney sold 846 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.90, for a total value of $63,365.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $694,098.30. The trade was a 8.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,028 shares of company stock valued at $1,738,973. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.