US Bancorp DE Increases Stock Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

US Bancorp DE lifted its position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,066,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 76,049 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE owned about 0.15% of NextEra Energy worth $219,805,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Family Office LLC now owns 13,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 4.7% in the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.8% during the third quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,332 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Accel Wealth Management boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 8,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $618,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Finally, L.M. Kohn & Company boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 15,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,101,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.85.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total value of $162,258.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,867,504.43. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 1.1 %

NEE stock opened at $70.17 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.95 and a twelve month high of $86.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $70.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.32. The stock has a market cap of $144.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.82, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58.

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

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

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

NextEra Energy Company 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.