Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Purchases 15,703 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 16.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 109,927 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 15,703 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $9,292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its stake in NextEra Energy by 6.9% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 5,273 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of NextEra Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $201,000. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 14,258 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,205,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $230,000. Finally, Old Port Advisors purchased a new stake in NextEra Energy in the third quarter worth $223,000. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on NEE. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of NextEra Energy from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on NextEra Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $87.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $86.54.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, EVP Nicole J. Daggs sold 658 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.97, for a total transaction of $50,646.26. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 100 shares in the company, valued at $7,697. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE NEE traded down $3.30 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $79.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 19,228,894 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,764,317. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $163.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.56. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $82.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.53. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.81 and a 12 month high of $86.10.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 24.45% and a return on equity of 11.75%. The firm had revenue of $7.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. NextEra Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.