Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Boosts Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 53.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 240,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 84,433 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $18,341,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NEE. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 42,418,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,571,650,000 after purchasing an additional 820,704 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 4.2% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 588,038 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,630,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $977,191,000 after purchasing an additional 345,999 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,436 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 5.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,630,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $729,559,000 after purchasing an additional 452,590 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of NYSE:NEE opened at $72.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $149.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.38. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $56.31 and a 1 year high of $86.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $70.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.05.

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

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.5665 dividend. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on NEE shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Eight investment 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.com, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.85.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In related news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was 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 approximately $1,867,504.43. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.