California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Stock Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,987,683 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 1,038,781 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.39% of NextEra Energy worth $485,172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 198,430,172 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $11,368,065,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956,153 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 2.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 22,982,250 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,316,653,000 after purchasing an additional 455,271 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,352,695 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $593,106,000 after purchasing an additional 148,674 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 59.1% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,784,080 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $337,096,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148,205 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 3.8% in 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 buying an additional 191,162 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company's stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NEE traded up $1.01 during trading on Monday, reaching $65.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,744,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,908,980. The company has a fifty day moving average of $59.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.61. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $47.15 and a twelve month high of $79.25. The company has a market cap of $134.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 26.00%. The company had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. NextEra Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 57.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NEE. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Mizuho restated a "buy" rating and set a $67.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, 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 target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.93.

NextEra Energy Profile

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.

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