Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC Acquires 15,071 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Key Points

• Asset Advisors boosted its stake in NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) by 38.0%, acquiring 15,071 shares to hold 54,688 shares valued at about $4.39 million at the end of the quarter.
• Insider selling was significant: Treasurer James Michael May and EVP Terrell Kirk Crews II sold 7,161 and 19,672 shares respectively on March 9, and insiders sold 190,816 shares worth $17.08 million over the past three months (insider ownership 0.20%).
• Analysts and dividends: several firms raised ratings or price targets (stock consensus "Moderate Buy", average target $94.94), and NextEra increased its quarterly dividend to $0.6232 ($2.49 annualized, ~2.6% yield).

Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 38.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,688 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 15,071 shares during the quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC's holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $4,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 28,282 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,028,000 after acquiring an additional 1,840 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,854 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 38.4% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 12,542 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $887,000 after buying an additional 3,479 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 18.1% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,563 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 2.9% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 15,596 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,083,000 after buying an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Treasurer James Michael May sold 7,161 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.27, for a total value of $646,423.47. Following the transaction, the treasurer directly owned 26,719 shares in the company, valued at $2,411,924.13. This represents a 21.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Terrell Kirk Crews II sold 19,672 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.27, for a total transaction of $1,775,791.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 73,857 shares in the company, valued at $6,667,071.39. This represents a 21.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 190,816 shares of company stock valued at $17,075,619 over the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $106.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of NextEra Energy from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $94.94.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NEE stock opened at $94.22 on Monday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $63.64 and a 1 year high of $96.21. The firm's 50 day moving average is $92.01 and its 200-day moving average is $85.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.64 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.93% and a return on equity of 12.18%. The company had revenue of $6.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. NextEra Energy's quarterly revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th were issued a $0.6232 dividend. This is an increase from NextEra Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.49 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. NextEra Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.68%.

NextEra Energy Company Profile

NextEra Energy, Inc NYSE: NEE, headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida, is a leading clean energy company with both regulated utility operations and competitive renewable generation businesses. The company's principal operating subsidiaries include Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), a regulated electric utility serving customers in Florida, and NextEra Energy Resources, which develops, constructs, owns and operates a large portfolio of wind, solar and energy storage projects. Together these businesses provide electricity supply, transmission and distribution services as well as utility-scale renewable generation and related services.

NextEra's activities cover the full lifecycle of power assets, from project development and construction to operation, maintenance and asset optimization.

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