Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,588,660 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 40,212 shares during the quarter. NextEra Energy comprises about 2.0% of Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned approximately 0.27% of NextEra Energy worth $339,455,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, HBC Financial Services PLLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on NEE shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.50.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NEE opened at $66.01 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $60.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.51. The company has a market capitalization of $135.62 billion, a PE ratio of 17.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.51. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $47.15 and a fifty-two week high of $78.53.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.11. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 56.13%.

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.