Baird Financial Group Inc. Buys 96,366 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 13.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 790,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 96,366 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $54,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 30.4% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,290,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $89,602,000 after purchasing an additional 300,747 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Family Trust lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 37.6% in the second quarter. Alpha Family Trust now owns 5,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 1,375 shares during the period. Trek Financial LLC bought a new position in NextEra Energy in the second quarter worth $297,000. CW Advisors LLC boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 15.6% during the second quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 347,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,115,000 after buying an additional 46,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acorns Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in NextEra Energy during the second quarter worth $243,000. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NEE. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $78.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Monday, October 27th. New Street Research set a $84.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Barclays set a $88.00 price objective on NextEra Energy and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.00.

Insider Transactions at NextEra Energy

In other news, EVP Michael Dunne sold 10,000 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.79, for a total value of $707,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 62,064 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,393,510.56. This trade represents a 13.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mark Lemasney sold 846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.90, for a total value of $63,365.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $694,098.30. The trade was a 8.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 168,168 shares of company stock worth $13,917,670 in the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NEE stock opened at $83.29 on Friday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $61.72 and a 52 week high of $87.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.46 billion, a PE ratio of 26.53, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.74. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $83.22 and its 200-day moving average is $76.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.97 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.5665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.29%.

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.