Wealth Alliance Grows Stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Wealth Alliance grew its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 38,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 798 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $2,322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. United Bank raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 9,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $844,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 32,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,726,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 15,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,333,000 after acquiring an additional 1,587 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 59.1% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 878 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $793,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NEE stock traded down $1.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $61.59. The stock had a trading volume of 6,909,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,754,639. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $47.15 and a one year high of $79.78. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $59.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 57.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NEE. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 price objective (up previously from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Friday, March 15th. StockNews.com lowered NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Two investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.