Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Grows Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 176,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $12,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 299,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,293,000 after acquiring an additional 5,409 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 60.6% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 342,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,973,000 after buying an additional 12,562 shares in the last quarter. Old Port Advisors acquired a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $223,000. Finally, Orrstown Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $230,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 0.7 %

NEE stock opened at $71.28 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $70.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $146.62 billion, a PE ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $53.95 and a one year high of $86.10.

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 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, equities research analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NEE. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.85.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares in the company, 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.

About NextEra Energy

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.