Vertex Planning Partners LLC Buys 414 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Vertex Planning Partners LLC raised its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 11.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,002 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 414 shares during the quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Slagle Financial LLC increased its position in NextEra Energy by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Slagle Financial LLC now owns 71,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,152,000 after buying an additional 12,570 shares during the last quarter. Broadway Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $262,000. Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $2,609,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter worth $193,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,484,197,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.92.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NEE stock opened at $70.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.31 and a twelve month high of $86.10. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.27.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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, sell-side analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.5665 dividend. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at $1,867,504.43. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NextEra Energy Company 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.