11,813 Shares in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE Acquired by Empirical Asset Management LLC

Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 11,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $892,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Willow Creek Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Willow Creek Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 13.0% in the third quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 201,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,204,000 after purchasing an additional 23,105 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its position in NextEra Energy by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 24,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,886,000 after purchasing an additional 3,687 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in NextEra Energy by 69.0% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 2,938 shares during the last quarter. Finally, North Star Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $2,700,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 167,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,073,290. This represents a 15.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO John W. Ketchum sold 99,603 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.34, for a total transaction of $8,898,532.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 305,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,332,054.22. The trade was a 24.56% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 159,049 shares of company stock valued at $14,194,542. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on NEE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Seaport Research Partners reduced their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Argus set a $92.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.05.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NEE opened at $95.13 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $198.20 billion, a PE ratio of 28.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.49. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $61.72 and a one year high of $95.91. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $85.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.42.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 24.93%.The company had revenue of $6.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.07 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.6232 per share. This represents a $2.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. 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 69.00%.

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.