Baird Financial Group Inc. Acquires 96,366 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 13.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 790,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 96,366 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $54,866,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 212,877,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,777,923,000 after buying an additional 5,554,603 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 45,724,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,161,774,000 after acquiring an additional 526,996 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,375,545,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,353,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,655,512,000 after acquiring an additional 262,819 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 58.4% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 17,236,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,221,896,000 after acquiring an additional 6,352,798 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NEE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $78.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Monday. Melius began coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded NextEra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, HSBC boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.00.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NEE stock opened at $83.29 on Friday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $61.72 and a 12 month high of $87.53. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.10. The firm has a market cap of $173.46 billion, a PE ratio of 26.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.09. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.72% and a return on equity of 12.42%. The business had revenue of $7.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Armando Pimentel, Jr. sold 145,140 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.91, for a total value of $12,178,697.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 162,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,651,569.63. This represents a 47.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael Dunne sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.79, for a total transaction of $707,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 62,064 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,393,510.56. The trade was a 13.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 168,168 shares of company stock valued at $13,917,670. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.