Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 30,965 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 20.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 181,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,965 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $15,337,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 11.4% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 70,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,493,000 after acquiring an additional 7,174 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.2% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 43,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,770,000 after acquiring an additional 925 shares during the period. Sheets Smith Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $421,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 305.8% in the first quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,697,000 after acquiring an additional 20,004 shares during the period. Finally, Rogco LP grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 5.0% in the first quarter. Rogco LP now owns 4,655 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $298,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NEE. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of NextEra Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Dbs Bank lowered shares of NextEra Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.54.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NYSE:NEE traded down $1.62 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $74.29. 2,265,533 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,876,738. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.81 and a 1 year high of $86.10. The company has a market cap of $152.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $81.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.33.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The firm had revenue of $7.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is 60.95%.

About NextEra Energy

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.