NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:NEP) Shares Sold by Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC

Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE:NEP – Get Rating) by 1.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 33,198 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock after selling 331 shares during the quarter. NextEra Energy Partners comprises about 0.8% of Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy Partners were worth $2,767,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NEP. National Asset Management Inc. grew its position in NextEra Energy Partners by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. National Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,245 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $688,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in NextEra Energy Partners by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 53,051 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $4,478,000 after buying an additional 905 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its position in NextEra Energy Partners by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 3,209 shares of the solar energy provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. purchased a new position in NextEra Energy Partners in the 4th quarter valued at $74,000. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in NextEra Energy Partners in the first quarter valued at $36,000. 81.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on NEP shares. KeyCorp raised their target price on NextEra Energy Partners from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 19th. CIBC began coverage on NextEra Energy Partners in a report on Thursday, June 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $79.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised NextEra Energy Partners from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $86.00 to $89.00 in a report on Friday, June 17th. TheStreet raised NextEra Energy Partners from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 30th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group increased their price objective on NextEra Energy Partners from $74.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.00.

NextEra Energy Partners Stock Performance

NYSE NEP opened at $81.67 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $75.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.55. NextEra Energy Partners, LP has a twelve month low of $61.31 and a twelve month high of $88.80. The company has a market capitalization of $6.85 billion, a PE ratio of 18.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE:NEP – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 22nd. The solar energy provider reported $2.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $2.31. The firm had revenue of $362.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $345.09 million. NextEra Energy Partners had a return on equity of 4.21% and a net margin of 39.66%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.97) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that NextEra Energy Partners, LP will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 4th will be issued a $0.7625 dividend. This represents a $3.05 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. This is an increase from NextEra Energy Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 3rd. NextEra Energy Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

About NextEra Energy Partners

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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 and solar projects, as well as contracted natural gas pipeline assets. NextEra Energy Partners, LP was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida.