NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE Shares Acquired by Verdence Capital Advisors LLC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,794 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,487 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $3,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 212,877,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,777,923,000 after purchasing an additional 5,554,603 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 45,724,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,161,774,000 after buying an additional 526,996 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in NextEra Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,375,545,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in NextEra Energy by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,786,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,165,896,000 after acquiring an additional 340,315 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 16,414,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,139,467,000 after acquiring an additional 408,198 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NEE stock opened at $83.65 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $174.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.64, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $82.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.34. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.72 and a fifty-two week high of $87.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

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

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.5665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NEE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. UBS Group set a $91.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In related news, CEO Armando Pimentel, Jr. sold 145,140 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.91, for a total value of $12,178,697.40. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.