Strs Ohio Sells 52,242 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Strs Ohio lessened its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,262,862 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 52,242 shares during the period. Strs Ohio owned about 0.06% of NextEra Energy worth $76,706,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 16,832 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,022,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Glassy Mountain Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter worth $222,000. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 431,699 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,221,000 after buying an additional 32,551 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in shares of NextEra Energy by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 1,827,443 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $110,999,000 after buying an additional 125,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in NextEra Energy by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 5,160,644 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $313,458,000 after purchasing an additional 191,162 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $67.00 target price (up previously from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Friday, March 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $72.00.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE NEE traded down $0.86 on Friday, hitting $63.08. 9,039,494 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,494,934. The company's 50 day moving average price is $59.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.51. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $47.15 and a twelve month high of $79.78.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.72 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 26.00%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. Analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were issued a $0.515 dividend. This is an increase from NextEra Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. NextEra Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 57.06%.

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.