Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Purchases 3,504 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 15.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,504 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $1,901,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $379,000. Jacobi Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 43,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,112,000 after acquiring an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 179,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,867,000 after purchasing an additional 5,551 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,066,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $219,805,000 after purchasing an additional 76,049 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Noesis Capital Mangement Corp grew its position in NextEra Energy by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 155,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,129,000 after purchasing an additional 892 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on NEE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.85.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE NEE opened at $70.17 on Friday. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.31. The company has a market cap of $144.34 billion, a PE ratio of 20.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.95 and a 1-year high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at $1,867,504.43. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.