Raiffeisen Bank International AG Buys 7,988 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Raiffeisen Bank International AG grew its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 100.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,988 shares during the quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $1,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NEE. Norges Bank bought a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,375,545,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 212,877,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,777,923,000 after buying an additional 5,554,603 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 1,765.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,968,305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $299,567,000 after buying an additional 3,755,563 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 10,796,329 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $749,481,000 after buying an additional 1,701,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 181.9% in the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 2,185,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $151,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,410,200 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NextEra Energy Trading Up 0.5%

NextEra Energy stock opened at $92.07 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $84.76 and a 200 day moving average of $80.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.76. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.72 and a 12-month high of $95.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.07 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.93% and a return on equity of 12.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be issued a $0.6232 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $2.49 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 69.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextEra Energy news, CEO John W. Ketchum sold 99,603 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.34, for a total transaction of $8,898,532.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 305,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,332,054.22. This trade represents a 24.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Charles E. Sieving sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $2,700,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 167,481 shares in the company, valued at $15,073,290. The trade was a 15.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 159,049 shares of company stock worth $14,194,542. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on NEE. BMO Capital Markets set a $95.00 target price on NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of NextEra Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $106.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Friday. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.05.

NextEra Energy Profile

NextEra Energy, Inc (NYSE: NEE), headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida, is a leading clean energy company with both regulated utility operations and competitive renewable generation businesses. The company’s principal operating subsidiaries include Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), a regulated electric utility serving customers in Florida, and NextEra Energy Resources, which develops, constructs, owns and operates a large portfolio of wind, solar and energy storage projects. Together these businesses provide electricity supply, transmission and distribution services as well as utility-scale renewable generation and related services.

NextEra’s activities cover the full lifecycle of power assets, from project development and construction to operation, maintenance and asset optimization.