Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Trims Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,092 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in NextEra Energy by 35.7% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 100,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,411,000 after purchasing an additional 26,382 shares during the period. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.2% during the third quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 1,216,077 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,495,000 after buying an additional 26,270 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 10.6% during the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 79,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,112,000 after acquiring an additional 7,677 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1,224.3% in the 2nd quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 72,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,130,000 after acquiring an additional 66,982 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 57.0% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 5,957,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $421,831,000 after purchasing an additional 2,163,437 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on NEE. Bank of America upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Guggenheim raised their target price on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $87.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.54.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE NEE opened at $76.98 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $82.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.33. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.81 and a 1 year high of $86.10. The company has a market capitalization of $158.30 billion, a PE ratio of 22.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.57.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $7.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.11 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 26.49%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.95%.

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.