Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Position Increased by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,512,540 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 21,647 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.26% of Xcel Energy worth $121,986,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Horizon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter worth $333,000. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 119.1% in the 3rd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 8,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 4,776 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $6,910,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 56.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 11,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $892,000 after buying an additional 3,975 shares during the period. Finally, Tema Etfs LLC raised its holdings in Xcel Energy by 44.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tema Etfs LLC now owns 54,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,395,000 after buying an additional 16,681 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on XEL shares. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $93.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Xcel Energy from $84.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Argus upgraded Xcel Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.21.

Xcel Energy Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $74.94 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.41. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $63.21 and a 52 week high of $83.01. The stock has a market cap of $44.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.85, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by ($0.08). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.46% and a return on equity of 10.45%. The business had revenue of $3.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. Xcel Energy’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 29th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 29th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.51%.

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.