Viking Fund Management LLC Grows Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Viking Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 107.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 238,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 123,000 shares during the period. NextEra Energy comprises about 2.8% of Viking Fund Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Viking Fund Management LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $14,456,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,774,845,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $2,530,055,000 after purchasing an additional 30,218,452 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new stake in NextEra Energy in the third quarter valued at $141,817,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in NextEra Energy by 59.1% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,784,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,096,000 after acquiring an additional 2,148,205 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 198,430,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,368,065,000 after acquiring an additional 1,956,153 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NEE shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup began coverage on NextEra Energy in a research report on Friday, December 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $69.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com lowered NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.46.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE NEE traded down $1.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $61.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,828,816 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,038,108. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $47.15 and a one year high of $79.78. The stock has a market cap of $126.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.62.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 26.00%. The business had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.72 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. This is an increase 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 (DPR) is currently 57.06%.

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.