3Chopt Investment Partners LLC Makes New Investment in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,954 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $989,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NEE. Somerset Trust Co raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 89,709 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,359,000 after purchasing an additional 4,445 shares in the last quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 67.8% in the 1st quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC now owns 495,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,091,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 385,592 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,335,000 after purchasing an additional 8,472 shares in the last quarter. HFR Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. HFR Wealth Management LLC now owns 127,640 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blackstone Inc. raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 75.3% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 3,313,252 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $237,527,000 after purchasing an additional 1,423,730 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on NEE. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $94.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $102.00 to $97.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.55.

NextEra Energy Stock Down 0.0%

NEE traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $70.96. 14,274,070 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,931,900. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.55. The company's fifty day moving average price is $69.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.14. The company has a market cap of $146.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.68. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $61.72 and a one year high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 21.81% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The firm had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $0.5665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. NextEra Energy's payout ratio is currently 85.02%.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In related news, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 23,684 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $1,657,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 196,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,190. This represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.