Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Has $64.86 Million Stock Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 904,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,680 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $64,858,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Second Line Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 4.7% during the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Accel Wealth Management increased its position 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 worth $618,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 15,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 0.4% during the third quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 34,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,889,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,943 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on NEE shares. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.92.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 5.7 %

NYSE NEE opened at $67.75 on Thursday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.31 and a 52-week high of $86.10. 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 $70.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its 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%. Equities research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 67.06%.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.