Verity & Verity LLC Has $12.18 Million Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Verity & Verity LLC increased its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 0.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 172,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,519 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $12,184,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NEE. M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $303,065,000. Zimmer Partners LP increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 8,447.5% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 2,735,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $174,807,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,200 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in NextEra Energy by 400.7% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 2,812,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $179,728,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250,500 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 57.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $114,953,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:NEE opened at $85.29 on Wednesday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $47.15 and a 12 month high of $85.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.74.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.03. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 24.45%. The business had revenue of $6.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. Analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on NEE. Scotiabank lifted their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $87.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.33.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In other news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total transaction of $50,646.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,697. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.