Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Trims Stock Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lowered its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 67.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 43,969 shares of the company’s stock after selling 90,214 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $2,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 770.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,552,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,955,000 after buying an additional 6,684,499 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 120.2% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,379,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,095,000 after buying an additional 1,299,025 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 130.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,084,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,325,000 after buying an additional 1,179,823 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Xcel Energy by 10.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,854,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,046,000 after purchasing an additional 174,653 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Xcel Energy by 25.5% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,685,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,062,000 after purchasing an additional 342,592 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XEL has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $71.00 to $76.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Argus raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven research 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.38.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL stock opened at $69.57 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.47. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $46.79 and a 52 week high of $70.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $39.95 billion, a PE ratio of 20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.38.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.26 by ($0.01). Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 13.67%. The firm had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

About Xcel Energy

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.