Appleton Partners Inc. MA Sells 130 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA trimmed its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 4.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 130 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $253,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sycomore Asset Management lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 47,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,473,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. BCK Partners Inc. increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 3.8% in the second quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 3,687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Renasant Bank raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the first quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 14,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $934,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.8% in the first quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,029 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $513,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Proffitt & Goodson Inc. raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 64.0% in the second quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,697. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NEE. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America raised their target price on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.07.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:NEE opened at $85.05 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.49. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $47.15 and a 52-week high of $86.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.74 billion, a PE ratio of 23.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.56.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.29 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 24.45%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders 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 of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 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.