Safeguard Financial LLC Buys 168 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Safeguard Financial LLC lifted its position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the quarter. Safeguard Financial LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its position in NextEra Energy by 5.4% in the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 3,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 262.2% in the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 920 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 175.0% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 33,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,345,000 after buying an additional 21,071 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,178,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $579,097,000 after buying an additional 691,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,371,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $309,595,000 after buying an additional 442,086 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on NEE. Barclays lifted their price target 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 assumed coverage on NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $87.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $94.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.15.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NextEra Energy stock opened at $67.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.41 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $139.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $73.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.26. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.95 and a 1 year high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $7.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.11 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 26.49%. NextEra Energy’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 60.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.