Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Xcel Energy Put Options (NASDAQ:XEL)

Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders bought 20,169 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,126% compared to the average volume of 1,645 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on XEL. Mizuho set a $92.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, July 31st. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Monday, June 8th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Xcel Energy from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.41.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Xcel Energy

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $280,187,000. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC lifted its stake in Xcel Energy by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 2,324,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,700,000 after purchasing an additional 356,208 shares during the last quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co bought a new stake in Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter worth $1,477,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,936,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,044,000 after buying an additional 255,884 shares during the period. Finally, Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 3,579,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $264,413,000 after buying an additional 415,759 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Xcel Energy stock opened at $77.19 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $79.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. Xcel Energy has a 12-month low of $71.29 and a 12-month high of $84.23. The company has a market cap of $48.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 10.65%. Xcel Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Xcel Energy will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.93%.

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.