OLD Republic International Corp Purchases 133,100 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

OLD Republic International Corp boosted its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 25.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 655,300 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 133,100 shares during the quarter. Xcel Energy accounts for 2.0% of OLD Republic International Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. OLD Republic International Corp owned 0.11% of Xcel Energy worth $48,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in XEL. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 9.9% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 28,851,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,326,872,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589,406 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 54.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,098,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $491,835,000 after acquiring an additional 2,145,063 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 2.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,725,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,187,929,000 after acquiring an additional 2,001,018 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,896,553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,914,984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,752,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 100.3% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 2,519,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,548,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261,439 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ XEL opened at $81.08 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $79.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.64. The stock has a market cap of $50.62 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.41. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.91. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The company had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.5925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is currently 68.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.63.

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.