NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Shares Acquired by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 17.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 865,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 126,488 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $62,079,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 42,418,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,571,650,000 after acquiring an additional 820,704 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,523,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,041,210,000 after acquiring an additional 588,038 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,630,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $977,191,000 after acquiring an additional 345,999 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,525,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 5.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,630,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $729,559,000 after acquiring an additional 452,590 shares during the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NEE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.85.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:NEE opened at $70.51 on Thursday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.26 and a 52 week high of $86.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $70.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.16. 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 company has a market cap of $145.03 billion, a PE ratio of 20.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 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%. Equities analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.06%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total value of $162,258.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.