National Pension Service Grows Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 692,244 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,882 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $51,129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in XEL. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $240,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 30.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $978,000 after buying an additional 3,242 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 48,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,434,000 after buying an additional 14,029 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $694,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 2,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

XEL stock opened at $79.50 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market cap of $49.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $84.23. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.61.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.91. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 14.14%.The firm had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Barclays dropped their price target on Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Truist Financial dropped their price target 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. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $96.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $90.63.

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.