NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Shares Purchased by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 191,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,714 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $13,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NEE. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,703,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525,436 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,369,689 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 13,375.2% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 946,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,835,000 after acquiring an additional 939,209 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 42,418,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,571,650,000 after acquiring an additional 820,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,523,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,041,210,000 after acquiring an additional 588,038 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on NEE shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI cut their target price on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.85.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NEE opened at $69.52 on Friday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.95 and a twelve month high of $86.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company has a market capitalization of $143.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.37.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NextEra Energy Company 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.