Everence Capital Management Inc. Buys 2,110 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 69,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,110 shares during the quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $4,222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NEE. Norges Bank bought a new position in NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $2,774,845,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 66,613.3% during 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 buying an additional 30,218,452 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $141,817,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,784,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,096,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 7,999.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,173,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146,625 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NextEra Energy stock traded down $1.05 on Tuesday, reaching $61.70. 11,528,624 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,771,638. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $47.15 and a fifty-two week high of $79.78.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $5.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NEE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim raised their target price on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.