HTLF Bank Makes New Investment in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

HTLF Bank purchased a new position in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 8,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $541,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. United Bank grew its position in NextEra Energy by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 9,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $844,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its position in NextEra Energy by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 32,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,726,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in NextEra Energy by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 15,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 1,587 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position in NextEra Energy by 59.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 878 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC purchased a new position in NextEra Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $793,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of NextEra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Mizuho reissued 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.36.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NEE opened at $64.31 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $59.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.51. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $47.15 and a one year high of $79.78. 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 company has a market capitalization of $131.99 billion, a PE ratio of 17.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.51.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) last posted its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $6.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.72 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 26.00% and a return on equity of 11.73%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 27th were given a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 26th. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. 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.