NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Shares Purchased by Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC

Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 25.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 44,715 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,026 shares during the period. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $2,716,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,982,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,316,653,000 after purchasing an additional 455,271 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,352,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $593,106,000 after purchasing an additional 148,674 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.4% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 9,026,464 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $517,126,000 after purchasing an additional 209,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 59.1% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,784,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $337,096,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,205 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NEE stock traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $68.01. The stock had a trading volume of 2,454,048 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,771,813. The company has a market cap of $139.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.15 and a 12-month high of $78.53. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.41.

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

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on NEE. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Bank of America boosted 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, April 23rd. Scotiabank raised 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 report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.50.

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.