Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Grows Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 32.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 235,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,438 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $17,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Activest Wealth Management boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 79.7% during the second quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the second quarter worth $25,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the third quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Quaker Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 200.0% in the second quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 386 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 772 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on NEE. Wolfe Research increased their target price on NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of NextEra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Cowen initiated coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $89.00 target price (down from $90.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, HSBC upped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In related news, CEO Armando Pimentel, Jr. sold 145,140 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.91, for a total transaction of $12,178,697.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 162,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,651,569.63. This represents a 47.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE NEE opened at $79.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.45. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.72 and a 1-year high of $87.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $82.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.74.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.72% and a return on equity of 12.42%. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. Equities analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.5665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 21st. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 72.29%.

NextEra Energy Company Profile

NextEra Energy, Inc (NYSE: NEE), headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida, is a leading clean energy company with both regulated utility operations and competitive renewable generation businesses. The company’s principal operating subsidiaries include Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), a regulated electric utility serving customers in Florida, and NextEra Energy Resources, which develops, constructs, owns and operates a large portfolio of wind, solar and energy storage projects. Together these businesses provide electricity supply, transmission and distribution services as well as utility-scale renewable generation and related services.

NextEra’s activities cover the full lifecycle of power assets, from project development and construction to operation, maintenance and asset optimization.