South Dakota Investment Council Acquires 2,100 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

South Dakota Investment Council lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $3,693,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 59.8% in the 3rd 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. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, HBC Financial Services PLLC bought a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on NEE shares. Barclays started coverage on NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised NextEra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.21.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NextEra Energy stock opened at $66.56 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.51. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $47.15 and a 52 week high of $79.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $60.47 and a 200-day moving average of $58.89.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.11. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 27.62%. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. NextEra Energy’s revenue was down 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 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.