Schroder Investment Management Group Reduces Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Key Points

• Schroder Investment Management Group trimmed its NextEra Energy stake by 0.4% in Q3, selling 47,617 shares and now holds 10,748,712 shares valued at about $811.42 million (NEE is its 27th largest position).
• Insiders have been selling: executives sold 159,049 shares in the last 90 days, including EVP Charles Sieving (30,000 shares at $90) and CEO John Ketchum (99,603 shares at ~$89.34), materially reducing their holdings.
• Dividend increase: NextEra raised its quarterly dividend to $0.6232 (annualized $2.49), yielding roughly 2.7%, with an ex-dividend date of February 27.

Schroder Investment Management Group trimmed its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,748,712 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 47,617 shares during the quarter. NextEra Energy makes up 0.6% of Schroder Investment Management Group's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Schroder Investment Management Group owned approximately 0.52% of NextEra Energy worth $811,420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.6% in the third quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,380 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. apricus wealth LLC raised its holdings in NextEra Energy by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. apricus wealth LLC now owns 3,272 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 6,590 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Fingerlakes Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fingerlakes Wealth Management Inc. now owns 16,215 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,224,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the third quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. now owns 12,320 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $930,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $2,700,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 167,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,073,290. The trade was a 15.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO John W. Ketchum sold 99,603 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.34, for a total transaction of $8,898,532.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 305,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,332,054.22. This trade represents a 24.56% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 159,049 shares of company stock worth $14,194,542. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NEE stock opened at $91.03 on Monday. 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 50-day moving average of $87.27 and a 200 day moving average of $82.36. The company has a market cap of $189.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67 and a beta of 0.75.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 24.93%.The firm had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. The business's revenue was up 20.7% 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 Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NEE. Jefferies Financial Group set a $87.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered NextEra Energy from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Seaport Research Partners cut their price objective on NextEra Energy from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.16.

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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