Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Sells 15,395 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise trimmed its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 15.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 85,481 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 15,395 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $6,453,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,375,545,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 5,554,603 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 1,765.3% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,968,305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $299,567,000 after acquiring an additional 3,755,563 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 18.7% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 10,796,329 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $749,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701,648 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 181.9% in the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 2,185,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $151,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,410,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NEE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. Argus set a $92.00 price objective on NextEra Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Barclays boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $87.00 target price on NextEra Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of NextEra Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, CEO John W. Ketchum sold 99,603 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.34, for a total value of $8,898,532.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 305,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,332,054.22. This trade represents a 24.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $2,700,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 167,481 shares in the company, valued at $15,073,290. The trade was a 15.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 159,049 shares of company stock valued at $14,194,542. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 1.1%

NEE stock opened at $92.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.78 billion, a PE ratio of 27.98 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.72 and a twelve month high of $95.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $87.51 and its 200-day moving average is $82.48.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 24.93%.The business had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. NextEra Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.6232 per share. This represents a $2.49 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.68%.

NextEra Energy Profile

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.