Meeder Asset Management Inc. Grows Stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 38.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,690 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of NEE. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in NextEra Energy by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 249,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,893,000 after acquiring an additional 15,181 shares in the last quarter. United Bank boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. United Bank now owns 13,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,315 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $25,145,000. ClearBridge Investments Ltd increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 4,452,303 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $319,186,000 after buying an additional 713,755 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,626,486 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $468,227,000 after buying an additional 459,596 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NEE. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.92.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NEE opened at $70.92 on Tuesday. 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 50-day simple moving average of $70.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.99. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.31 and a fifty-two week high of $86.10. The company has a market cap of $145.87 billion, a PE ratio of 21.04, 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 for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.5665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

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.