Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV Trims Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lessened its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 45.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,405 shares during the quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $384,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in NextEra Energy by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,436 shares during the last quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd raised its position in NextEra Energy by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 1,216,077 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $102,495,000 after purchasing an additional 26,270 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its position in NextEra Energy by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 6,098,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $515,481,000 after purchasing an additional 21,400 shares during the last quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. raised its position in NextEra Energy by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 59,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,042,000 after purchasing an additional 8,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,801,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of NextEra Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $87.00 price objective on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.15.

Insider Transactions at NextEra Energy

In other news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,007 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.57, for a total transaction of $302,808.99. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,792 shares in the company, valued at $1,193,401.44. This represents a 20.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NYSE:NEE opened at $67.39 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $138.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company’s 50-day moving average is $74.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.27. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.95 and a 12-month high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $7.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.11 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. Research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.41 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 60.95%.

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.