Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 283,270 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 4.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,817,078 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 283,270 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $491,718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Montecito Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 7.4% during the third quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 17,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,486,000 after buying an additional 1,211 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 24.5% during the third quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC now owns 82,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,004,000 after buying an additional 16,297 shares during the last quarter. David J Yvars Group bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the third quarter valued at about $220,000. Baugh & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.5% during the third quarter. Baugh & Associates LLC now owns 94,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,638,000 after buying an additional 2,306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 7.3% during the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 18,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NEE. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Dbs Bank lowered shares of NextEra Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $87.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.54.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NEE opened at $74.52 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.33. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $53.81 and a one year high of $86.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.24 billion, a PE ratio of 22.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.57.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The firm had revenue of $7.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is 60.95%.

NextEra Energy Company 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.