Pacer Advisors Inc. Acquires 7,867 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 5.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 152,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,867 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $12,911,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,298,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,508,155,000 after acquiring an additional 143,748 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 5.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,630,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $729,559,000 after purchasing an additional 452,590 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,809,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $575,573,000 after buying an additional 851,873 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,100,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $431,966,000 after buying an additional 409,708 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 6,098,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $515,481,000 after buying an additional 21,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NEE. Bank of America boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank increased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of NextEra Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.85.

Insider Activity

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.57, for a total value of $302,808.99. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,792 shares in the company, valued at $1,193,401.44. This trade represents a 20.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $76.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $156.29 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a 50 day moving average of $80.90 and a 200-day moving average of $77.67. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.95 and a 1-year high of $86.10.

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

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is 60.95%.

About NextEra Energy

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.