William Blair Investment Management LLC Trims Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

William Blair Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 359,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 23,393 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $25,801,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NEE. Amundi increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 49.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 9,543,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $676,008,000 after purchasing an additional 3,172,405 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,436 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 167.7% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,186,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369,689 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 13,375.2% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 946,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,835,000 after purchasing an additional 939,209 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter valued at $65,657,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on NEE shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.92.

Insider Transactions at NextEra Energy

In related news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total value of $162,258.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at $1,867,504.43. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $70.63 on Wednesday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $60.26 and a one year high of $86.10. The company has a market capitalization of $145.28 billion, a PE ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.70.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. Research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 67.06%.

NextEra Energy Company 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.