Advisors Capital Management LLC Purchases 19,521 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 361,815 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,521 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $25,649,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NEE. 1 North Wealth Services LLC bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in NextEra Energy during the first quarter worth $35,000. Copia Wealth Management acquired a new position in NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 335.0% during the first quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 509 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 237.7% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NEE stock opened at $71.04 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $73.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The company has a market capitalization of $146.30 billion, a PE ratio of 24.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.65. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.72 and a 12-month high of $86.10.

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

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on NEE shares. Melius started coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 target price on the stock. Melius Research upgraded NextEra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday, August 21st. HSBC reduced their price target on NextEra Energy from $88.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Robert Coffey sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.84, for a total transaction of $538,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 26,539 shares in the company, valued at $1,906,561.76. This trade represents a 22.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Treasurer James Michael May sold 2,177 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.50, for a total value of $168,717.50. Following the completion of the sale, the treasurer owned 27,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,143,805. This trade represents a 7.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,677 shares of company stock worth $1,415,418 over the last three months. 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.