Kovack Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 21.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,332 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $1,753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NEE. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 42,418,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,571,650,000 after buying an additional 820,704 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,523,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,041,210,000 after buying an additional 588,038 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,284,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,122,963,000 after buying an additional 86,758 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,703,000 after buying an additional 1,525,436 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,630,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $729,559,000 after buying an additional 452,590 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NEE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $99.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.85.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NEE opened at $70.97 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $70.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.42. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.95 and a 1 year high of $86.10. The stock has a market cap of $145.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total value of $162,258.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at $1,867,504.43. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.