Merriman Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Merriman Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 35.7% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 100,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,411,000 after purchasing an additional 26,382 shares in the last quarter. Camden National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Camden National Bank now owns 156,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,514,000 after acquiring an additional 14,477 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 79,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,112,000 after acquiring an additional 7,677 shares in the last quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 20,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,269,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its position in NextEra Energy by 57.0% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 5,957,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $421,831,000 after purchasing an additional 2,163,437 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NEE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.87.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total value of $50,646.26. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 100 shares in the company, valued at $7,697. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NEE opened at $82.76 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.34. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $47.15 and a one year high of $85.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.56.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 24.45%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.13%.

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.