Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 232.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,919 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $3,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the second quarter worth about $32,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. GeoWealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 124.1% during the first quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 549 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp lifted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 59.8% during the third quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on NEE. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $67.00 price target (up previously from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Barclays began coverage on NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.36.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NEE traded down $1.11 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $61.64. 7,006,710 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,754,639. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s fifty day moving average is $59.32 and its 200-day moving average is $58.32. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $47.15 and a one year high of $79.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $6.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.72 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 26.00%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were issued a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 57.06%.

NextEra Energy Company 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.