Ninety One SA PTY Ltd Purchases 8,449 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Ninety One SA PTY Ltd increased its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 113,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,449 shares during the quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $6,893,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 198,430,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,368,065,000 after buying an additional 1,956,153 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $2,774,845,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 66,613.3% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,263,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,530,055,000 after buying an additional 30,218,452 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,982,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,316,653,000 after buying an additional 455,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 19,626,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,538,947,000 after buying an additional 315,356 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NEE traded up $0.35 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $64.14. 6,470,576 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,798,856. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $59.58 and a 200-day moving average of $58.39. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $47.15 and a one year high of $79.78. The firm has a market cap of $131.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.72, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.72 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.00% and a return on equity of 11.73%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 57.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NEE. Barclays began coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.36.

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.