West Family Investments Inc. Makes New Investment in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

West Family Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,475 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $393,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Avitas Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,299,000 after acquiring an additional 1,057 shares in the last quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 35,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,137,000 after acquiring an additional 2,899 shares in the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 383,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,995,000 after purchasing an additional 6,325 shares during the last quarter. Asio Capital LLC bought a new position in NextEra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,701,000. Finally, Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in NextEra Energy by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NEE has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. 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 research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.50.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

NEE stock traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $68.06. The company had a trading volume of 4,186,933 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,796,059. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.43. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.15 and a 1 year high of $78.53. The company has a market capitalization of $139.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $61.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.41.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 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 business had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a $0.515 dividend. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. 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.