Bank of Marin Grows Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Bank of Marin raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 12.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the quarter. Bank of Marin’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $244,169,000. Amundi raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 49.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 9,543,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $676,008,000 after purchasing an additional 3,172,405 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,703,000 after acquiring an additional 1,525,436 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 167.7% in the third 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 during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 13,375.2% in the fourth 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. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on NEE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank boosted 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. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.92.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:NEE opened at $70.63 on Wednesday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $60.26 and a twelve 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.96, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.70.

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

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.5665 dividend. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 67.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 directly owns 27,427 shares of the company’s stock, 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 the SEC website. 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.