Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 556.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 102,352 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 86,750 shares during the quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.'s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $7,338,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 8,641.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,861,208 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $326,388,000 after purchasing an additional 3,817,037 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 4,058.2% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,366,795 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $200,065,000 after purchasing an additional 2,309,876 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $634,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,436 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 167.7% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,186,225 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $184,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369,689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 42,418,748 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,571,650,000 after purchasing an additional 820,704 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company's stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE NEE traded up $1.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $70.12. The company had a trading volume of 9,339,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,303,559. The company has a market capitalization of $144.23 billion, a PE ratio of 20.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.38. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.95 and a 1-year high of $86.10. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $70.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.64.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 28.06%. On average, analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.5665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. NextEra Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total transaction of $162,258.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on NEE shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays increased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $85.85.

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.