Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group trimmed its NextEra Energy stake by 4.9% in the first quarter, selling 235,445 shares and ending with 4.61 million shares valued at about $428.2 million.
• Institutional ownership in NextEra remains very high, with hedge funds and other investors holding 78.72% of the stock. Several firms also increased their positions during the quarter.
• Analyst sentiment is still generally positive despite some mixed notes: NextEra has a Moderate Buy consensus, an average price target of $99.59, and recent earnings beat EPS estimates even though revenue fell short of expectations.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 4.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,609,761 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 235,445 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.22% of NextEra Energy worth $428,155,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 27,238 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,451,000 after buying an additional 942 shares in the last quarter. IFC Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. IFC Advisors LLC now owns 60,442 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,614,000 after acquiring an additional 6,438 shares in the last quarter. Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,685,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 56.8% during the first quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 6,030 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $560,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 17.8% in the first quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 47,001 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,365,000 after acquiring an additional 7,094 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More NextEra Energy News

Here are the key news stories impacting NextEra Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts highlighted NextEra’s strong earnings-surprise track record and suggested the company has the right setup to potentially beat expectations again in its next quarterly report.
• Positive Sentiment: Broader utility and nuclear-energy coverage remained constructive, with articles pointing to resilience in the XLU ETF and renewed interest in the nuclear renaissance, which can support sentiment around large regulated power names like NextEra Energy.
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary also framed NextEra as a possible “utility scale” leader and discussed its upcoming earnings schedule, keeping investor focus on the company’s growth and execution outlook.
• Neutral Sentiment: NextEra Energy revised its bylaws to give the board more control over shareholder meeting timing and format, including the option for fully virtual meetings. The move has drawn governance debate, but the market reaction appears mixed rather than clearly negative.
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America lowered its price target on NextEra Energy from $95 to $93 and kept a neutral rating, a modest headwind for sentiment even though the new target still implies upside from current levels.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $111.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Barclays set a $91.00 price target on NextEra Energy and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $102.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of NextEra Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $99.59.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 0.5%

NextEra Energy stock opened at $88.37 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.54. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $88.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $88.99. The company has a market cap of $184.28 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.67. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.24 and a fifty-two week high of $98.75.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.06. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 29.36%.The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.43 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. NextEra Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.920-4.02 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.6232 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $2.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. NextEra Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.36%.

NextEra Energy 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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