Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY Purchases 31,387 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 28.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 141,639 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 31,387 shares during the quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $11,252,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.7% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $593,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.0% in the third quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 12,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 28,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,138,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 6,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keel Point LLC increased its position in Xcel Energy by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 5,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

XEL stock opened at $80.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $50.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.15, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.34. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $66.56 and a one year 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 (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91. The firm had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective 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. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Argus set a $86.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $90.94.

Xcel Energy Company 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.