Sheets Smith Wealth Management Decreases Stock Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management reduced its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,599 shares of the company’s stock after selling 830 shares during the period. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 298,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,448,000 after acquiring an additional 7,679 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 47.7% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 115,016 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,121,000 after acquiring an additional 37,131 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 930.5% in the 3rd quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP now owns 45,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,627,000 after acquiring an additional 41,462 shares in the last quarter. First Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 66.8% during the 4th quarter. First Bank & Trust now owns 70,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,359,000 after purchasing an additional 28,187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $3,665,677,000 after purchasing an additional 8,644,054 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on XEL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective 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. Wolfe Research raised Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 11th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ XEL traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $54.32. 2,422,420 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,329,455. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $30.18 billion, a PE ratio of 16.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.36. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $46.79 and a twelve month high of $69.85.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The business had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, April 20th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 65.77%.

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.