Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 47.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 40,829 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,092 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $3,243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,610,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,732,334,000 after acquiring an additional 885,085 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,340,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,704,534,000 after purchasing an additional 444,092 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 26,262,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,788,448,000 after acquiring an additional 2,157,602 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 24,572,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,814,920,000 after purchasing an additional 3,546,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,496,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,214,035,000 after buying an additional 126,498 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on XEL shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.76.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Xcel Energy stock opened at $78.77 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $79.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.05. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.16 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23. The company has a market capitalization of $49.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.39. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91. The company had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

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

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.