Donaldson Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 3,296 Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,665,677,000 after acquiring an additional 8,644,054 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $576,873,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $231,020,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,521,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,059,821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 165.3% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,899,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,159,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,298 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:XEL opened at $52.53 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.36, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $54.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.20. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $71.32.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 12.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.08.

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.