Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Trims Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC decreased its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 187 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $2,948,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the third quarter worth $141,817,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,784,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $337,096,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,205 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 7,999.6% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,173,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146,625 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 198,430,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,368,065,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $94,883,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE NEE traded up $1.11 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $71.25. The stock had a trading volume of 14,038,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,912,476. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $47.15 and a 52-week high of $78.53. The firm has a market cap of $146.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $62.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

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

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on NEE shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.50.

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.