Cincinnati Financial Corp Buys 38,000 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Cincinnati Financial Corp boosted its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 79.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,000 shares during the period. Cincinnati Financial Corp’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $5,970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in NextEra Energy by 58.4% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 17,236,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,221,896,000 after acquiring an additional 6,352,798 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,446,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,165,748,000 after purchasing an additional 2,815,629 shares during the period. Amundi increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 27.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 12,200,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $878,447,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657,438 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 207,322,418 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,697,086,000 after purchasing an additional 2,025,193 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 55.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,300,839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $374,639,000 after buying an additional 1,886,999 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NEE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $78.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective (down from $96.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Melius assumed coverage on NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Melius Research raised NextEra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.22.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $83.92 on Friday. 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 quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $174.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a fifty day moving average of $78.17 and a 200 day moving average of $74.00.

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

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be paid a $0.5665 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other news, EVP Mark Lemasney sold 846 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.90, for a total transaction of $63,365.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,267 shares in the company, valued at $694,098.30. This trade represents a 8.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 11,336 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $906,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 167,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,398,480. This represents a 6.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 23,028 shares of company stock valued at $1,738,973 in the last three months. 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.