O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Buys 15,181 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 249,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,181 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $17,893,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. United Bank grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. United Bank now owns 13,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $934,000 after buying an additional 2,315 shares in the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,145,000. ClearBridge Investments Ltd grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 4,452,303 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $319,186,000 after acquiring an additional 713,755 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,626,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $468,227,000 after purchasing an additional 459,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 46.7% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 7,910,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $567,093,000 after purchasing an additional 2,517,369 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:NEE opened at $70.44 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $144.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.08. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.31 and a 1 year high of $86.10.

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

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 67.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total transaction of $162,258.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at $1,867,504.43. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NEE shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank raised 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. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.92.

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.