Zacks Investment Management Buys 29,722 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Zacks Investment Management raised its position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 12.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 276,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 29,722 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $23,398,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,139,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in NextEra Energy during the third quarter worth about $955,000. DF Dent & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in NextEra Energy by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 22,550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,906,000 after acquiring an additional 2,808 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,369,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookfield Corp ON grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 3.5% in the third quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 2,089,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $176,645,000 after purchasing an additional 71,440 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on NEE. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $87.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of NextEra Energy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.85.

NextEra Energy Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE NEE opened at $75.24 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.95 and a 12-month high of $86.10. The stock has a market cap of $154.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.26, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.56.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The firm had revenue of $7.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 60.95%.

Insider Transactions at NextEra Energy

In related news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 4,007 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.57, for a total transaction of $302,808.99. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,792 shares in the company, valued at $1,193,401.44. This trade represents a 20.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.