Mirova US LLC Has $232.37 Million Stock Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Mirova US LLC boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 41.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,825,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,120,051 shares during the period. NextEra Energy accounts for approximately 3.5% of Mirova US LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Mirova US LLC owned about 0.19% of NextEra Energy worth $232,372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 1.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,956,153 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter valued at $2,774,845,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 66,613.3% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the third 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 lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.6% in the third 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NEE. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com cut NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $67.00 price target (up previously from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.36.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NEE traded down $1.05 on Wednesday, hitting $61.70. 11,594,124 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,029,350. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $47.15 and a 52 week high of $79.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.63 billion, a PE ratio of 17.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $59.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.35.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $5.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 57.06%.

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.