Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Buys 12,412 Shares of NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:NEP)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:NEP) by 14.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,072 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,412 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund owned approximately 0.11% of NextEra Energy Partners worth $2,980,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ClearBridge Investments Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy Partners by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 4,161,433 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $125,176,000 after buying an additional 250,456 shares during the last quarter. M&G Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in NextEra Energy Partners by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. M&G Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,044,055 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $91,322,000 after acquiring an additional 648,775 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy Partners in the 1st quarter valued at about $83,069,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy Partners by 599.4% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,602,485 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock worth $79,142,000 after purchasing an additional 2,230,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy Partners by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 1,663,736 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $50,594,000 after purchasing an additional 261,523 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research downgraded NextEra Energy Partners from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays cut NextEra Energy Partners from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $32.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of NextEra Energy Partners from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $30.00 in a report on Monday, July 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NextEra Energy Partners to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of NextEra Energy Partners from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.93.

NextEra Energy Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NextEra Energy Partners stock opened at $25.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. NextEra Energy Partners, LP has a twelve month low of $20.17 and a twelve month high of $57.29. The company’s fifty day moving average is $29.75 and its 200 day moving average is $29.11.

NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE:NEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The solar energy provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $360.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $365.54 million. NextEra Energy Partners had a negative return on equity of 0.40% and a net margin of 24.42%. The business’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that NextEra Energy Partners, LP will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be given a dividend of $0.905 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 6th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.97%. NextEra Energy Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 117.05%.

NextEra Energy Partners Profile

NextEra Energy Partners, LP acquires, owns, and manages contracted clean energy projects in the United States. It owns a portfolio of contracted renewable generation assets consisting of wind, solar, and battery storage projects. The company owns contracted natural gas pipeline assets. NextEra Energy Partners, LP was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Juno Beach, Florida.