NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE Shares Sold by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co

Key Points

• Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co reduced its holdings in NextEra Energy by 21.8%, selling 9,572 shares during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors have made significant changes to their positions in NextEra Energy, with notable increases from firms like Ethic Inc. (up 81.3%) and Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (up 549.3%).
• NextEra Energy declared a quarterly dividend of $0.5665 per share, representing an annualized yield of 3.2%, with a payout ratio of 79.37%.

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lowered its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 21.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,321 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 9,572 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co's holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $2,433,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 207,322,418 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $14,697,086,000 after buying an additional 2,025,193 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.1% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,353,245 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,655,512,000 after buying an additional 262,819 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 21,269,146 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,507,770,000 after buying an additional 1,336,259 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 58.4% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 17,236,502 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,221,896,000 after buying an additional 6,352,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,446,413 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,165,748,000 after buying an additional 2,815,629 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Robert Coffey sold 7,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.84, for a total transaction of $538,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 26,539 shares in the company, valued at $1,906,561.76. The trade was a 22.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael Dunne sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.79, for a total transaction of $707,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 62,064 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,393,510.56. This represents a 13.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,677 shares of company stock worth $1,415,418 over the last ninety days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 0.5%

NextEra Energy stock traded up $0.34 during trading on Friday, reaching $71.66. The company had a trading volume of 9,343,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,011,098. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.72 and a 12-month high of $86.10. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $73.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.54.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.04. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 22.84% and a return on equity of 12.31%. The company had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. NextEra Energy's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 28th. NextEra Energy's payout ratio is currently 79.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NEE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Melius Research upgraded shares of NextEra Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. HSBC lowered their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $84.00.

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.