Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 143,194 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,722,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NEE. Greenfield Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Greenfield Savings Bank now owns 32,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,957,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. MKT Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 6,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 4,701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Finally, First Pacific Financial boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 8,885 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $540,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NEE has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.50.

NextEra Energy Stock Down 1.4 %

NEE traded down $0.91 on Friday, hitting $65.99. The company had a trading volume of 9,982,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,921,297. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $60.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.51. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.15 and a 12-month high of $78.53.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 27.62%. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.13%.

About NextEra Energy

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.