West Paces Advisors Inc. Sells 1,122 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

West Paces Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,122 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $966,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 198,430,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,368,065,000 after acquiring an additional 1,956,153 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,774,845,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 66,613.3% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,263,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,530,055,000 after purchasing an additional 30,218,452 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 2.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,982,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,316,653,000 after purchasing an additional 455,271 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in NextEra Energy by 1.6% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,626,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,538,947,000 after buying an additional 315,356 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NEE stock traded down $1.05 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $61.70. The company had a trading volume of 11,529,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,821,353. The company has a market capitalization of $126.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.47. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $47.15 and a 1-year high of $79.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $59.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.32.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.72 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.00% and a return on equity of 11.73%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a $0.515 dividend. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on NEE shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Barclays started coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $67.00 price target (up previously from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.36.

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.