Wealth Architects LLC Buys 221 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Wealth Architects LLC increased its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. Wealth Architects LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised 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 buying an additional 5,831 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 41,328 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,436 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 6,098,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $515,481,000 after purchasing an additional 21,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 445,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,964,000 after purchasing an additional 27,340 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NEE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.92.

Insider Transactions at NextEra Energy

In other news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of NextEra Energy 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at $1,867,504.43. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NEE stock opened at $73.59 on Monday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.44 and a 12-month high of $86.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $70.51 and its 200 day moving average is $75.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued 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 net margin of 28.06% and a return on equity of 11.85%. Research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.