Maple Capital Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Maple Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,519 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NEE. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,436 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 167.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,186,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,795,000 after buying an additional 1,369,689 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in NextEra Energy by 13,375.2% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 946,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,835,000 after buying an additional 939,209 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 42,418,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,571,650,000 after buying an additional 820,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,523,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,041,210,000 after buying an additional 588,038 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total transaction of $162,258.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NEE opened at $70.17 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.34 billion, a PE ratio of 20.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $70.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.32. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.95 and a twelve month high of $86.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. Research analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 67.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NEE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.85.

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.