Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Decreases Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lessened its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,286,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,412 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned about 0.06% of NextEra Energy worth $91,102,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BCK Partners Inc. increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 3.8% during the second quarter. BCK Partners Inc. now owns 3,687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Renasant Bank increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the first quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 14,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $934,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.8% in the first quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,029 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 64.0% in the second quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the second quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 15,194 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,076,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NEE. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $85.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total transaction of $50,646.26. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,697. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $82.76 on Friday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.15 and a 1 year high of $85.56. The firm has a market cap of $170.03 billion, a PE ratio of 22.55, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.34.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $6.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.29 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.45% and a return on equity of 11.75%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. Analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.13%.

About NextEra Energy

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.