Associated Banc Corp Increases Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Associated Banc Corp increased its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 198,652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,052 shares during the period. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $16,792,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC raised its position in NextEra Energy by 2.2% in the first quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 67,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 128.2% during the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 16,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after acquiring an additional 9,326 shares during the period. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the first quarter worth $1,541,000. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 10.6% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 79,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,112,000 after acquiring an additional 7,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 206,009 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,166,000 after purchasing an additional 21,195 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NEE. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,007 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,792 shares in the company, valued at $1,193,401.44. This represents a 20.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE NEE traded up $0.89 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $76.89. The stock had a trading volume of 989,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,847,422. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.95 and a 52-week high of $86.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $158.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $80.90 and a 200 day moving average of $77.75.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.11 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 26.49%. NextEra Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.