Sit Investment Associates Inc. Cuts Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Key Points

• Sit Investment Associates Inc. reduced its stake in NextEra Energy by 9.4%, selling 9,516 shares to hold a total of 91,247 shares valued at approximately $6.47 million.
• NextEra Energy announced a quarterly dividend of $0.5665 per share, which translates to an annualized dividend of $2.27 and a yield of 3.1%.
• The company's latest earnings report exceeded expectations with an EPS of $1.05, and analysts are forecasting a full-year EPS of $3.68 for NextEra Energy.

Sit Investment Associates Inc. trimmed its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 9.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 91,247 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 9,516 shares during the quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc.'s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $6,468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Copia Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 237.7% in the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 520 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $102.00 to $97.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $86.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. HSBC cut their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $84.42.

Insider Activity

In other NextEra Energy news, Treasurer James Michael May sold 2,177 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.50, for a total value of $168,717.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer directly owned 27,662 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,143,805. The trade was a 7.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Robert Coffey sold 7,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.84, for a total value of $538,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 26,539 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,906,561.76. This represents a 22.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NEE stock traded up $0.6740 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $76.3940. The stock had a trading volume of 4,728,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,891,852. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $72.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $157.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.63. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.72 and a 52-week high of $86.10.

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

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 28th will be given a $0.5665 dividend. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 28th. NextEra Energy's payout ratio is currently 79.37%.

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.