Allstate Corp Buys New Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Allstate Corp purchased a new position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 60,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,370,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1,229.6% in the fourth quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the period. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Luken Investment Analytics LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on NEE. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.92.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NEE opened at $70.44 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’s 50-day moving average price is $70.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.19. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.31 and a 52-week high of $86.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) 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, sell-side analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is 67.06%.

Insider Transactions at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,867,504.43. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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.