Pacer Advisors Inc. Cuts Stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. has decreased its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. by 32.6%, now holding 141,670 shares valued at approximately $10.04 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their positions in NextEra Energy, with Schroder Investment Management Group raising its stake by 44.9% in the fourth quarter.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.5665 per share, which reflects an annualized dividend yield of 3.15%.

Pacer Advisors Inc. decreased its position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 32.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 141,670 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 68,443 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $10,043,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $240,269,000. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in NextEra Energy by 46.7% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 7,910,346 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $567,093,000 after buying an additional 2,517,369 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 44.9% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 8,064,781 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $578,164,000 after purchasing an additional 2,499,011 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 8,456.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,458,536 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $174,286,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429,804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,090,426 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,655,353,000 after purchasing an additional 2,030,331 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on NEE. UBS Group lowered their price target on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $84.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on NextEra Energy from $86.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. HSBC cut their price target on NextEra Energy from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded NextEra Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.42.

NextEra Energy Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NEE traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $70.83. The company had a trading volume of 2,454,493 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,130,185. The company has a market capitalization of $145.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $72.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.47. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. NextEra Energy's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 28th will be issued a $0.5665 dividend. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 28th. NextEra Energy's payout ratio is 79.37%.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In other news, EVP Robert Coffey sold 7,500 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 26,539 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,906,561.76. This trade represents a 22.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 23,684 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $1,657,880.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 196,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,190. This trade represents a 10.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 33,361 shares of company stock valued at $2,365,398. Insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

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.