NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Shares Sold by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 38.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 18,692 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $1,836,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $141,817,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,784,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,096,000 after acquiring an additional 2,148,205 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 7,999.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,173,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,016,000 after acquiring an additional 2,146,625 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 198,430,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,368,065,000 after acquiring an additional 1,956,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $94,883,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.50.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE NEE opened at $66.90 on Friday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $47.15 and a one year high of $78.53. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $60.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.51.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.11. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. NextEra Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.13%.

NextEra Energy Profile

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.