Yousif Capital Management LLC Has $27.44 Million Stock Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Key Points

• Yousif Capital Management cut its NextEra Energy stake by 4.7% in Q4, selling 16,373 shares and now holding 328,576 shares worth about $27.44 million.
• Analysts remain broadly positive with a consensus "Moderate Buy" and an average target of $94.94, including notable upgrades such as UBS raising its target to $104 and JPMorgan to $97.
• NextEra raised its quarterly dividend to $0.6232 (annualized $2.49, ~2.7% yield), even as insiders sold roughly 190,816 shares (~$17.1M) over the last three months and institutional ownership sits near 78.7%.

Yousif Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 328,576 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 16,373 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC's holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $27,439,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NEE. Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 24.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 64,158 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,843,000 after acquiring an additional 12,738 shares in the last quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 326,193 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $24,624,000 after acquiring an additional 15,600 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,845,447 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $365,783,000 after acquiring an additional 60,324 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 286.0% in the 3rd quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 22,028 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,594,000 after acquiring an additional 16,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 61.8% in the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 60,985 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,604,000 after acquiring an additional 23,288 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NEE has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Argus set a $92.00 price objective on NextEra Energy and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Wall Street Zen cut NextEra Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded NextEra Energy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.94.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $93.50 on Wednesday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.72 and a 12-month high of $95.91. The stock has a market cap of $194.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.42 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The business's 50 day moving average is $91.62 and its 200-day moving average is $85.45.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 24.93%.The company had revenue of $6.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. The business's revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In related news, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 167,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,073,290. The trade was a 15.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ronald R. Reagan sold 18,620 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $1,675,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,643 shares in the company, valued at $867,870. The trade was a 65.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 190,816 shares of company stock worth $17,075,619 in the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About NextEra Energy

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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