Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Buys 26,713 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 11.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 255,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,713 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $18,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NEE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 207,322,418 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,697,086,000 after buying an additional 2,025,193 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,353,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,655,512,000 after purchasing an additional 262,819 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 21,269,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,507,770,000 after purchasing an additional 1,336,259 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 58.4% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 17,236,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,221,896,000 after purchasing an additional 6,352,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,446,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,165,748,000 after purchasing an additional 2,815,629 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NEE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $86.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. HSBC decreased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.42.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 4.4%

Shares of NEE stock opened at $75.40 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.27 billion, a PE ratio of 26.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.63. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.72 and a fifty-two week high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.04. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 22.84%. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 28th will be given a dividend of $0.5665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 28th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NextEra Energy news, Treasurer James Michael May sold 2,177 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.50, for a total transaction of $168,717.50. Following the transaction, the treasurer owned 27,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,143,805. This represents a 7.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Robert Coffey sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.84, for a total value of $538,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 26,539 shares in the company, valued at $1,906,561.76. This represents a 22.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.