Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Buys 8,883 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 125.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,943 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,883 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $1,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NEE. Avity Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.7% in the second quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. now owns 506,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,162,000 after buying an additional 8,565 shares during the last quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 41.8% in the first quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. now owns 25,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,779,000 after buying an additional 7,401 shares during the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the first quarter valued at about $783,000. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.5% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 503,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,932,000 after buying an additional 30,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bowman & Co S.C. raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the second quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. now owns 13,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $933,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE NEE opened at $83.30 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.13, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $74.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.54. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $61.72 and a 52 week high of $86.00.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.52 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 22.84%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.96 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 28th were paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 28th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on NEE shares. Melius started coverage on NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective (down from $96.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.08.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In other news, EVP Robert Coffey sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.84, for a total transaction of $538,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 26,539 shares in the company, valued at $1,906,561.76. This represents a 22.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Treasurer James Michael May sold 2,177 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.50, for a total value of $168,717.50. Following the sale, the treasurer owned 27,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,143,805. This represents a 7.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,705 shares of company stock worth $2,446,490. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.