Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Shares Sold by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 3.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,204,285 shares of the company’s stock after selling 82,686 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $177,773,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,725,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,187,929,000 after purchasing an additional 2,001,018 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,144,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,295,000 after purchasing an additional 126,790 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 9.0% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 26,262,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,788,448,000 after purchasing an additional 2,157,602 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 21,026,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,695,748,000 after buying an additional 831,639 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,526,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,574,842,000 after buying an additional 807,353 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XEL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Xcel Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Argus upgraded Xcel Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho set a $86.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.60.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ XEL opened at $82.52 on Monday. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $84.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $77.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.48 billion, a PE ratio of 24.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.45.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96. The business had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.76% and a return on equity of 10.46%. The company’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) is a Minneapolis-based, publicly traded utility holding company that develops, owns and operates regulated electricity and natural gas delivery systems. The company’s core activities include generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, the delivery of natural gas to customers, and related customer service operations. Xcel provides a mix of utility services to residential, commercial and industrial customers and participates in wholesale energy markets where appropriate.

Its generation portfolio combines nuclear, natural gas, coal and a growing share of renewable resources such as wind and solar.