Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,817,078 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 283,270 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.28% of NextEra Energy worth $491,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 0.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,298,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,508,155,000 after purchasing an additional 143,748 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 9.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,178,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $579,097,000 after purchasing an additional 691,341 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 14.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,809,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $575,573,000 after purchasing an additional 851,873 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.9% during the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 5,981,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $423,568,000 after acquiring an additional 388,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 18.8% during the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 5,121,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $362,624,000 after acquiring an additional 810,089 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Dbs Bank downgraded NextEra Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $87.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.54.

NextEra Energy Stock Down 5.3 %

NEE opened at $74.52 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $153.24 billion, a PE ratio of 22.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.81 and a 52 week high of $86.10. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.05.

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

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

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

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.