Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Buys 69,718 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 729,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 69,718 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $44,312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 198,430,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,368,065,000 after acquiring an additional 1,956,153 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $2,774,845,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $2,530,055,000 after acquiring an additional 30,218,452 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,982,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,316,653,000 after acquiring an additional 455,271 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.6% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 315,356 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on NEE shares. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Friday, March 15th. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.36.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NEE opened at $61.70 on Wednesday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $47.15 and a 12 month high of $79.78. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.09, a PEG ratio of 2.26 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 (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.00% and a return on equity of 11.73%. 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 prior year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 57.06%.

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.