Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys 5,369 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 21.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,369 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $2,181,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 42,418,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,571,650,000 after buying an additional 820,704 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in NextEra Energy by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,523,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,041,210,000 after buying an additional 588,038 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in NextEra Energy by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,284,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,122,963,000 after buying an additional 86,758 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in NextEra Energy by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,703,000 after buying an additional 1,525,436 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in NextEra Energy by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,630,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $729,559,000 after buying an additional 452,590 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NEE stock opened at $70.17 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market cap of $144.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $53.95 and a one year high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. On average, analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.5665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total value of $162,258.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.