Howe & Rusling Inc. Increases Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Howe & Rusling Inc. boosted its position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 101,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,926 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $7,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NEE. Second Line Capital LLC grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 4.7% in the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Accel Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 8,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $618,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 15,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,101,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. 1ST Source Bank boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 0.4% in the third quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 34,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,889,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $139,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on NEE shares. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total transaction of $162,258.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 1.6 %

NEE opened at $69.66 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $143.28 billion, a PE ratio of 20.67, a P/E/G 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 12-month low of $61.31 and a 12-month high of $86.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $70.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.30.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 28.06% and a return on equity of 11.85%. As a group, research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

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.