United Bank Increases Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

United Bank increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 21.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,315 shares during the period. United Bank’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $934,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 45,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,267,000 after acquiring an additional 5,831 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,823,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,714,000 after purchasing an additional 41,328 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,525,436 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,964,000 after purchasing an additional 27,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 171,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,312,000 after buying an additional 9,425 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In related news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,867,504.43. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NEE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.92.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NEE opened at $70.44 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.90 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $70.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.14. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.31 and a 52-week high of $86.10.

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

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.5665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is 67.06%.

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.