Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Acquires 348 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $12,638,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NEE. National Pension Service raised its position in NextEra Energy by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 4,457,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $319,524,000 after purchasing an additional 496,791 shares in the last quarter. Fjell Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter valued at $954,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $279,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 30,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,181,000 after acquiring an additional 5,369 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL grew its holdings in NextEra Energy by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 690,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,476,000 after acquiring an additional 1,748 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on NEE shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.85.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NEE opened at $71.28 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $146.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $70.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.46. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.95 and a 52-week high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 28.06% and a return on equity of 11.85%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.5665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total value of $162,258.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at $1,867,504.43. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.