8,480 Shares in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE Purchased by Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 8,480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $640,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. Isthmus Partners LLC grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 6,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $497,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 100.0% in the third quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 15,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,214,000 after purchasing an additional 7,988 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 19,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Mendel Money Management bought a new position in NextEra Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $213,000. Finally, Frisch Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $672,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on NEE shares. HSBC increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Argus set a $92.00 target price on NextEra Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Seaport Research Partners reduced their target price on NextEra Energy from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $95.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.05.

Insider Transactions at NextEra Energy

In related news, CEO John W. Ketchum sold 99,603 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.34, for a total value of $8,898,532.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 305,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,332,054.22. This represents a 24.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ronald R. Reagan sold 18,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $1,675,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,643 shares in the company, valued at $867,870. The trade was a 65.88% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 159,049 shares of company stock valued at $14,194,542 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NEE opened at $92.07 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.87. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.72 and a twelve month high of $95.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.76. 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 (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.07 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 24.93%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be issued a $0.6232 dividend. This represents a $2.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 69.00%.

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.