Bell Bank Buys 529 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Bell Bank increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the quarter. Bell Bank’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 8,641.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,861,208 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $326,388,000 after acquiring an additional 3,817,037 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in NextEra Energy by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,703,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525,436 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in NextEra Energy by 167.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,369,689 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 820,704 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,960,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $334,758,000 after purchasing an additional 491,462 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NEE. Barclays boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.85.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NEE opened at $71.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $147.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.47. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.95 and a 52 week high of $86.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.56.

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

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.13%.

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.