NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE Shares Bought by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.3% to 16,787,191 shares (about 0.81% of the company), worth roughly $1.27 billion at the end of the quarter.
• NextEra raised its quarterly dividend to $0.6232 per share (annualized $2.49), a 2.7% yield; the ex-dividend date is Feb. 27 and the payment date is Mar. 16.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.54, beating estimates by $0.01, while revenue of $6.50 billion fell short of the $7.07 billion consensus despite a 20.7% year-over-year revenue increase.

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,787,191 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 373,088 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.81% of NextEra Energy worth $1,267,265,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in NextEra Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in NextEra Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Rexford Capital Inc. acquired a new position in NextEra Energy during the second quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 108.2% in the third quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 456 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company's stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:NEE opened at $92.05 on Tuesday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $87.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.49. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.72 and a 1 year high of $95.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.78 billion, a PE ratio of 27.98 and a beta of 0.75.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.07 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.93% and a return on equity of 12.18%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. Analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.6232 per share. This is a boost from NextEra Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. NextEra Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 75.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NEE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $106.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho set a $90.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $103.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $94.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 30,000 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $2,700,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 167,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,073,290. The trade was a 15.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO John W. Ketchum sold 99,603 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.34, for a total value of $8,898,532.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 305,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,332,054.22. The trade was a 24.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 159,049 shares of company stock worth $14,194,542 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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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