Capital Analysts LLC Boosts Stock Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Capital Analysts LLC increased its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 293.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 433 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $26,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 15.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,665,677,000 after buying an additional 8,644,054 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $576,873,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $231,020,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,521,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,059,821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 165.3% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,899,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,159,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,298 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on XEL shares. TheStreet downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Barclays raised shares of Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Six 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of XEL stock opened at $54.72 on Friday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $46.79 and a 12-month high of $71.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $54.16 and its 200 day moving average is $58.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.36.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.02). Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 12.47%. The company had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.548 per share. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.22%.

Xcel Energy Company Profile

Xcel Energy Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, purchasing, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility, and All Other segments. The company generates electricity through wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, and solar energy sources, as well as coal, natural gas, oil, wood, and refuse-derived fuels.