FORA Capital LLC Invests $731,000 in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 10,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $731,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 205,297,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,717,758,000 after acquiring an additional 2,090,538 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $3,484,197,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,778,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,129,132,000 after acquiring an additional 1,359,268 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 23,090,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,655,353,000 after acquiring an additional 2,030,331 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in NextEra Energy by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,523,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,041,210,000 after purchasing an additional 588,038 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Erste Group Bank raised NextEra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $102.00 to $97.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.46.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total value of $162,258.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $70.37 on Friday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $61.72 and a 12 month high of $86.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market cap of $144.87 billion, a PE ratio of 20.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.69.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. The company had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. NextEra Energy’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 84.64%.

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.