Congress Asset Management Co. Raises Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Congress Asset Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 202,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,448 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $14,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 45,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,267,000 after purchasing an additional 5,831 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.2% during the third quarter. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd now owns 1,216,077 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,495,000 after buying an additional 26,270 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 6,098,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $515,481,000 after buying an additional 21,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,964,000 after buying an additional 27,340 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NEE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Eight equities 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.com, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.85.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NEE stock opened at $68.06 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $139.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.84. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.95 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. On average, equities analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.5665 dividend. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.13%.

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.