Blue Capital Inc. Buys New Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Blue Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 35,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,632,000. Xcel Energy comprises 1.9% of Blue Capital Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 394.5% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Beacon Financial Strategies CORP purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 471 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on XEL. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.62.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL stock opened at $77.41 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $66.32 and a 1 year high of $84.23. The firm has a market cap of $48.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.34.

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

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.30%.

Xcel Energy Profile

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.