DNB Asset Management AS Boosts Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

DNB Asset Management AS raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE – Get Rating) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 834,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 55,817 shares during the quarter. DNB Asset Management AS’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $69,757,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. Public Investment Fund purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $493,266,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 189,253,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,839,329,000 after purchasing an additional 3,870,385 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 9,209.8% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,935,593 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $151,770,000 after buying an additional 1,914,802 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 34.7% in the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 6,737,043 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $431,713,000 after buying an additional 1,735,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the third quarter worth about $81,651,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on NEE shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on NextEra Energy from $100.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Bank of America downgraded NextEra Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $94.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on NextEra Energy from $101.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded NextEra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 10th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their target price on NextEra Energy from $102.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.83.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Terrell Kirk Crews II purchased 2,672 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $74.87 per share, for a total transaction of $200,052.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 33,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,483,437.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Terrell Kirk Crews II purchased 2,672 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $74.87 per share, for a total transaction of $200,052.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 33,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,483,437.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James Lawrence Camaren purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $73.50 per share, with a total value of $147,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 147,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,872,855. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 18,872 shares of company stock worth $1,417,721 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NextEra Energy stock traded down $0.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $75.67. 14,137,395 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,084,818. The business has a 50-day moving average of $76.77 and a 200 day moving average of $80.28. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.22 and a fifty-two week high of $91.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.39 billion, a PE ratio of 36.21, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.01. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 19.79%. The business had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.12 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 28th were given a $0.4675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 27th. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.87 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 89.47%.

About NextEra Energy

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NextEra Energy, Inc engages in the provision of renewable energy. It operates through the following segments: FPL and NEER. The FPL segment involves the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electric energy in Florida. The NEER segment produces electricity from clean and renewable sources, including wind and solar.