Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Boosts Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 18.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,735 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,191 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $3,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $240,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 30.7% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $978,000 after purchasing an additional 3,242 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 48,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,434,000 after purchasing an additional 14,029 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 4.8% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.0% in the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 2,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL opened at $81.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $51.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.56, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $79.42 and a 200-day moving average of $78.40. 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 $66.56 and a 1-year high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued 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 business had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on XEL. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. New Street Research set a $91.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Xcel Energy from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 18th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $91.06.

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.