Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Increases Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lifted its position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 12.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,676 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $2,056,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. raised its position in NextEra Energy by 315.4% in the 4th quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 59.8% during the third quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on NEE shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded NextEra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.50.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NextEra Energy stock traded up $1.29 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $70.14. 12,687,503 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,442,457. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.58. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.15 and a 12-month high of $78.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market cap of $144.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.50.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.28 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 27.62%. The business’s revenue was down 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.