Mather Group LLC. Trims Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Mather Group LLC. lowered its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 21.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,878 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,729 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $686,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NEE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 207,322,418 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,697,086,000 after purchasing an additional 2,025,193 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 262,819 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,336,259 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC raised its position 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 valued at $1,221,896,000 after buying an additional 6,352,798 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 20.7% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,446,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,165,748,000 after acquiring an additional 2,815,629 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NEE opened at $74.68 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $72.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.08. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.72 and a 12-month high of $86.10. The firm has a market cap of $153.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.11, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.52 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 22.84%.NextEra Energy’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 28th were issued a dividend of $0.5665 per share. The ex-dividend date was 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 79.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on NEE. Melius Research raised NextEra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Melius initiated coverage on NextEra Energy in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective (down from $96.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho set a $78.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, Treasurer James Michael May sold 2,177 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the treasurer owned 27,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,143,805. This trade represents a 7.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Mark Lemasney sold 846 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total value of $60,827.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 10,113 shares in the company, valued at $727,124.70. This represents a 7.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,523 shares of company stock valued at $1,476,245 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.