Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Boosts Position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 157,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,678 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $9,573,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new stake in NextEra Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $141,817,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,784,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $337,096,000 after buying an additional 2,148,205 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in NextEra Energy by 7,999.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,173,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $132,016,000 after buying an additional 2,146,625 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,883,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NEE traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $71.63. 9,332,868 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,873,946. The company has a market cap of $147.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.51. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $47.15 and a one year high of $78.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $62.33 and a 200 day moving average of $59.80.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.28 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 27.62%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.88%. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded NextEra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays assumed coverage on NextEra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on NextEra Energy from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.93.

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.