Rakuten Securities Inc. Has $131,000 Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 193.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,203 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Amundi lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 49.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 9,543,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $676,008,000 after buying an additional 3,172,405 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.9% during 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. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 167.7% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,186,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $184,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,369,689 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 13,375.2% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 946,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,835,000 after acquiring an additional 939,209 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter worth $65,657,000. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at $1,867,504.43. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $73.03 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $150.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.95. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.88 and a 12-month high of $86.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

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

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.5665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on NEE shares. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.92.

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.