Eastern Bank Lowers Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Eastern Bank decreased its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 2.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 905,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 18,118 shares during the quarter. NextEra Energy makes up approximately 1.2% of Eastern Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Eastern Bank’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $62,855,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Avity Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in NextEra Energy by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. now owns 506,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,162,000 after purchasing an additional 8,565 shares during the period. Integrity Alliance LLC. raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 41.8% during the first quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. now owns 25,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,779,000 after acquiring an additional 7,401 shares during the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $783,000. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.5% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 503,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,932,000 after acquiring an additional 30,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bowman & Co S.C. increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the second quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. now owns 13,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $933,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on NEE. Melius Research raised NextEra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Mizuho set a $78.00 price target on NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, HSBC lowered their target price on NextEra Energy from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.08.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NEE stock opened at $83.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $171.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.73. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.72 and a 12-month high of $86.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.52 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 22.84%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.96 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 28th were paid a $0.5665 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 28th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.37%.

Insider Transactions at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, Treasurer James Michael May sold 2,177 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.50, for a total transaction of $168,717.50. Following the sale, the treasurer owned 27,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,143,805. This represents a 7.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 11,336 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $906,880.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 167,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,398,480. This trade represents a 6.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,705 shares of company stock worth $2,446,490 over the last ninety days. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NextEra Energy Profile

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.