Boston Research & Management Inc. Has $5.36 Million Stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Boston Research & Management Inc. lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 74,722 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the quarter. Boston Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $5,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 14.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,823,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,714,000 after buying an additional 41,328 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 20.9% during the 4th 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. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,964,000 after acquiring an additional 27,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its position in NextEra Energy by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 171,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,312,000 after acquiring an additional 9,425 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE NEE opened at $70.44 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.31 and a 1 year high of $86.10.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. As a group, research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.5665 dividend. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NEE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on 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, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.