Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 69,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $4,928,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 33.3% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 35,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,173,000 after acquiring an additional 8,949 shares during the period. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1,573.0% in the fourth quarter. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. now owns 596,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,213,000 after purchasing an additional 560,567 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 322,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,606,000 after buying an additional 5,880 shares in the last quarter. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC now owns 44,715 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,716,000 after buying an additional 9,026 shares during the period. Finally, LGT Group Foundation grew its position in NextEra Energy by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 151,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,245,000 after buying an additional 15,813 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on NEE shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.00.

Insider Transactions at NextEra Energy

In related news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total transaction of $50,646.26. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,697. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NEE stock opened at $80.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The business has a 50-day moving average of $75.39 and a 200 day moving average of $69.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.48 billion, a PE ratio of 21.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.54. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $47.15 and a 1-year high of $81.07.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its 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 net margin of 24.45% and a return on equity of 11.75%. The firm had revenue of $6.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.13%.

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.