Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $339.46 Million Stock Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,588,660 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,212 shares during the quarter. NextEra Energy comprises approximately 2.0% of Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $339,455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Herold Advisors Inc. increased its position in NextEra Energy by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. now owns 22,578 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,371,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in NextEra Energy by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 137,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,380,000 after buying an additional 5,177 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. acquired a new position in NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter worth $387,000. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC increased its position in NextEra Energy by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 56,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,414,000 after buying an additional 4,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV increased its position in NextEra Energy by 188.5% during the fourth quarter. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV now owns 10,155 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $617,000 after buying an additional 6,635 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NextEra Energy Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE NEE opened at $66.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.51. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.06. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $47.15 and a twelve month high of $78.53. The stock has a market cap of $135.62 billion, a PE ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.51.

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

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 56.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on NEE. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.50.

NextEra Energy Company 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.