First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 5,177 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 137,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,177 shares during the quarter. NextEra Energy makes up approximately 1.9% of First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $8,380,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in NextEra Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $141,817,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 59.1% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 7,999.6% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,173,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146,625 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of NextEra Energy by 1.0% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $94,883,000. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on NEE. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of NextEra Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NextEra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.50.

NextEra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NEE opened at $66.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $135.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $60.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $47.15 and a 12 month high of $78.53.

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

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 27th were paid a $0.515 dividend. This is an increase from NextEra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 26th. NextEra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.13%.

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.