Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Buys 509 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 11.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,849 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 26,007 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,610,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 20,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 70,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,359,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Barclays raised shares of Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL stock opened at $55.24 on Thursday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $70.97. The company has a market cap of $30.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.24, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $53.96 and a 200 day moving average of $58.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. Xcel Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.548 per share. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.97%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.22%.

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.