Moors & Cabot Inc. Purchases 1,470 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 183,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,470 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $13,160,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 299,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,293,000 after buying an additional 5,409 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 85,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,261,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 17,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,465,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $406,000. Finally, Verus Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $232,000. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NEE. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price 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. Eight research 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.92.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $162,258.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,867,504.43. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:NEE opened at $74.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $70.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.97. The company has a market cap of $152.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.97, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.47. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $56.55 and a fifty-two week high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results 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 analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.5665 dividend. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.06%.

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.