William Blair Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

William Blair Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 359,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 23,393 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $25,801,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $363,000. Wealth Architects LLC increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Architects LLC now owns 4,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 34,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,492,000 after acquiring an additional 582 shares in the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 346,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,827,000 after acquiring an additional 2,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 137,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,824,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on NEE. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total value of $162,258.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at $1,867,504.43. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NextEra Energy Stock Down 2.1 %

NYSE NEE opened at $70.63 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.47. The company has a market capitalization of $145.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $60.26 and a one year high of $86.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $70.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.70.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. As a group, equities analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.5665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.06%.

NextEra Energy Company 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.