Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) Stock Position Boosted by Balentine LLC

Balentine LLC boosted its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,503 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 544 shares during the period. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 8,644,054 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.0% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 216.1% in the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,627,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,981,000 after purchasing an additional 1,112,510 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 184.9% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,451,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,861,000 after purchasing an additional 942,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 247.8% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,284,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,511,000 after purchasing an additional 915,046 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XEL has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.83.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of Xcel Energy stock opened at $55.52 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.55. The company has a market cap of $30.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.67, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.79 and a 1 year high of $66.40.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 13.36%. Xcel Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.5475 per share. This represents a $2.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 65.77%.

Xcel Energy 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.