Highland Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Highland Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 987 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $3,933,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter worth $2,561,055,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,782,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $654,940,000 after buying an additional 429,979 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 22.3% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,961,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $443,834,000 after buying an additional 1,268,900 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,631,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $402,774,000 after buying an additional 629,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,905,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $358,717,000 after buying an additional 449,387 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 1.7 %

NEE stock traded up $1.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $76.00. 11,099,386 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,498,575. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.14 billion, a PE ratio of 20.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.54. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.15 and a 1 year high of $80.47. The company has a 50-day moving average of $74.27 and a 200-day moving average of $65.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.51.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.28 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 27.62%. NextEra Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. Analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were given a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NEE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.50.

NextEra Energy 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.