Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires 3,362 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 20.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,911 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,362 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $1,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 198,430,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,368,065,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956,153 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 2.0% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,352,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $593,106,000 after acquiring an additional 148,674 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.4% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 9,026,464 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $517,126,000 after acquiring an additional 209,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,784,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,096,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,205 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.50.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NextEra Energy stock opened at $70.14 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $62.00 and a 200-day moving average of $59.66. The company has a market capitalization of $144.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.50. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.15 and a 1 year high of $78.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

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

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is 56.13%.

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.