Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Invests $1.08 Million in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 13,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,082,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 365.3% during the 1st quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 349 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its position in Xcel Energy by 73.8% in the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Advocate Investing Services LLC acquired a new stake in Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Mizuho set a $92.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, July 31st. 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 report on Thursday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $92.41.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL stock opened at $79.17 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $79.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.70. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.29 and a 1 year high of $84.23. The firm has a market cap of $49.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.69, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.65% and a net margin of 15.28%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.59 EPS. Analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.5925 dividend. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.