Saturna Capital Corp Increases Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Saturna Capital Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,175 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Saturna Capital Corp’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $776,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,298,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,508,155,000 after purchasing an additional 143,748 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 9.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,178,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $579,097,000 after purchasing an additional 691,341 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 6,809,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $575,573,000 after purchasing an additional 851,873 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,100,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $431,966,000 after purchasing an additional 409,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 5,981,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $423,568,000 after purchasing an additional 388,149 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NEE opened at $74.55 on Wednesday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.95 and a fifty-two week high of $86.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $81.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.39. The company has a market cap of $153.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.97, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The firm had revenue of $7.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on NEE shares. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $73.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NextEra Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.54.

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.