John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Increases Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 218.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,497 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,950 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $881,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Avitas Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,299,000 after buying an additional 1,057 shares during the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 35,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,137,000 after buying an additional 2,899 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its holdings in NextEra Energy by 1.7% in the third quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 383,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,995,000 after buying an additional 6,325 shares during the last quarter. Asio Capital LLC acquired a new position in NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,701,000. Finally, Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in NextEra Energy by 7.3% in the third quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after acquiring an additional 1,211 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays assumed coverage on NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.36.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NEE opened at $64.31 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market cap of $131.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.81, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.51. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.15 and a 1 year high of $79.78.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 26.00%. The firm had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.72 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. Research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 57.06%.

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.