NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) Shares Bought by Lincoln National Corp

Lincoln National Corp grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 18.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 53,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,109 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $3,230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. Greenfield Savings Bank grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Greenfield Savings Bank now owns 32,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,957,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC grew its position in NextEra Energy by 22.7% in the 4th quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. MKT Advisors LLC grew its position in NextEra Energy by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 6,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management grew its position in NextEra Energy by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 4,701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Pacific Financial grew its position in NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 8,885 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $540,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays began coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. 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 report on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.93.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 1.0 %

NEE stock traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $71.95. The company had a trading volume of 13,471,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,930,231. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.15 and a 1 year high of $78.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a market capitalization of $147.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.53, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $62.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.80.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.11. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 56.13%.

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.