Ridgewood Investments LLC Takes Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $138,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,561,055,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in 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 worth $654,940,000 after buying an additional 429,979 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in 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 worth $443,834,000 after buying an additional 1,268,900 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 10.5% in 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, Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 57.0% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 5,957,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $421,831,000 after acquiring an additional 2,163,437 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at NextEra Energy

In other news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total transaction of $50,646.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 100 shares in the company, valued at $7,697. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on NEE. Citigroup boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $71.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.00.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE NEE traded up $0.63 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $80.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,178,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,090,422. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.24. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $47.15 and a 52 week high of $81.07. The stock has a market cap of $164.44 billion, a PE ratio of 21.81, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.54.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 24.45%. The business had revenue of $6.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.13%.

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.