Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 143,194 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,722,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NEE. Account Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. Account Management LLC now owns 69,655 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,231,000 after buying an additional 15,840 shares during the period. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC now owns 379,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,079,000 after purchasing an additional 50,899 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 197,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,981,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 26,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,637,000 after buying an additional 5,188 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NEE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Guggenheim upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Scotiabank increased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays started coverage on NextEra Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.50.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NextEra Energy stock traded down $0.91 during trading on Friday, hitting $65.99. 9,982,762 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,921,297. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $60.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.11. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $47.15 and a 1-year high of $78.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.11. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. NextEra Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 56.13%.

About NextEra Energy

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.