Bragg Financial Advisors Inc Increases Stock Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Bragg Financial Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 15.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 80,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,519 shares during the quarter. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $5,770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its position in NextEra Energy by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 299,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,293,000 after acquiring an additional 5,409 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. boosted its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 3.1% during the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 21,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,842,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp grew its stake in NextEra Energy by 4.8% in the third quarter. Wealthquest Corp now owns 9,829 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $838,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. Tudor Financial Inc. bought a new position in NextEra Energy in the third quarter worth $742,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in NextEra Energy by 4.5% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 52,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,411,000 after purchasing an additional 2,252 shares in the last quarter. 78.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at NextEra Energy

In other news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total transaction of $162,258.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,867,504.43. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NEE. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.92.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NEE opened at $65.72 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $69.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.78. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.31 and a 52-week high of $86.10. The company has a market cap of $135.29 billion, a PE ratio of 19.50, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 28.06% and a return on equity of 11.85%. As a group, analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 67.06%.

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.