Sapient Capital LLC Takes $2.56 Million Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 42,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,556,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 315.4% during the 4th quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 59.8% in the third quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NEE. Bank of America boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. 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. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.50.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:NEE traded up $1.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $70.14. 12,687,503 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,442,457. The firm has a market cap of $144.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.11, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.58. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $47.15 and a 52-week high of $78.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.11. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 27.62%. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 56.13%.

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.