Ballast Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Ballast Inc. raised its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 26.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the quarter. Ballast Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $333,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NEE. Country Trust Bank raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 975.6% during the third quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 59.8% during the third quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, West Tower Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextEra Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com lowered NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NextEra Energy from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $67.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of NextEra Energy in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.46.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NEE stock opened at $63.91 on Friday. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $47.15 and a 52-week high of $79.78. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $57.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.17 billion, a PE ratio of 17.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.50. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.44 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. 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. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. NextEra Energy’s payout ratio is 57.06%.

NextEra Energy Company 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.