Sowell Financial Services LLC Grows Stock Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Sowell Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 30.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,632 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,849 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $2,124,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 1,229.6% during the fourth quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in NextEra Energy during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Luken Investment Analytics LLC acquired a new position in NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its position in NextEra Energy by 2,482.6% during the third quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI cut 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 research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total transaction of $162,258.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at $1,867,504.43. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NEE stock opened at $72.86 on Monday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $56.31 and a one year high of $86.10. 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 50 day moving average price of $70.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 28.06% and a return on equity of 11.85%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

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.