BNP Paribas Financial Markets Has $109.20 Million Stake in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 90.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,353,980 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 644,269 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $109,198,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the second quarter worth about $25,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 168.4% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 202.2% in the 2nd quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Collier Financial bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $81.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Argus set a $86.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley set a $91.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho set a $86.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $88.44.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

XEL opened at $80.82 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The stock has a market cap of $50.42 billion, a PE ratio of 23.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.45. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.21 and a 1 year high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.96. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.76% and a return on equity of 10.46%. The firm had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.30%.

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.