Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Increases Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 496.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 331,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 275,552 shares during the quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $27,121,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NEE. Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 24.8% during the third quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 64,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,843,000 after purchasing an additional 12,738 shares during the last quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its position in NextEra Energy by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 326,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,624,000 after purchasing an additional 15,600 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its position in NextEra Energy by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,845,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $365,783,000 after purchasing an additional 60,324 shares during the period. Synergy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 286.0% during the 3rd quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 22,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after buying an additional 16,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 61.8% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 60,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,604,000 after buying an additional 23,288 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:NEE opened at $92.40 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $89.39 and a 200 day moving average of $83.36. The company has a market cap of $192.51 billion, a PE ratio of 28.08 and a beta of 0.76. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.72 and a 12-month high of $95.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.07 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.93% and a return on equity of 12.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.6232 per share. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is 75.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Seaport Research Partners dropped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Erste Group Bank raised shares of NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. HSBC increased their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $96.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Terrell Kirk Crews II sold 19,672 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.27, for a total value of $1,775,791.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 73,857 shares in the company, valued at $6,667,071.39. This represents a 21.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ronald R. Reagan sold 18,620 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $1,675,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 9,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $867,870. The trade was a 65.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 190,816 shares of company stock valued at $17,075,619. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Company Profile

NextEra Energy, Inc (NYSE: NEE), headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida, is a leading clean energy company with both regulated utility operations and competitive renewable generation businesses. The company’s principal operating subsidiaries include Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), a regulated electric utility serving customers in Florida, and NextEra Energy Resources, which develops, constructs, owns and operates a large portfolio of wind, solar and energy storage projects. Together these businesses provide electricity supply, transmission and distribution services as well as utility-scale renewable generation and related services.

NextEra’s activities cover the full lifecycle of power assets, from project development and construction to operation, maintenance and asset optimization.