Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Sells 18,693 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 68.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 18,693 shares during the quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $636,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NEE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in NextEra Energy by 2.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 212,877,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,777,923,000 after buying an additional 5,554,603 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $3,161,774,000 after acquiring an additional 526,996 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $2,375,545,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.1% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,786,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,165,896,000 after purchasing an additional 340,315 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 16,414,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,139,467,000 after purchasing an additional 408,198 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NEE stock opened at $80.89 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $168.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.54. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.72 and a 1 year high of $87.53.

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

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st were given a $0.5665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.29%.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In other news, CEO Armando Pimentel, Jr. sold 145,140 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.91, for a total transaction of $12,178,697.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 162,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,651,569.63. The trade was a 47.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on NEE shares. Barclays set a $88.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. New Street Research set a $84.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Monday, October 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of NextEra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Monday, December 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.72.

About NextEra Energy

NextEra Energy, Inc (NYSE: NEE), headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida, is a leading clean energy company with both regulated utility operations and competitive renewable generation businesses. The company’s principal operating subsidiaries include Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), a regulated electric utility serving customers in Florida, and NextEra Energy Resources, which develops, constructs, owns and operates a large portfolio of wind, solar and energy storage projects. Together these businesses provide electricity supply, transmission and distribution services as well as utility-scale renewable generation and related services.

NextEra’s activities cover the full lifecycle of power assets, from project development and construction to operation, maintenance and asset optimization.