Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 96.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,073 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,936 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 15.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,062,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,665,677,000 after acquiring an additional 8,644,054 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth $576,873,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth $231,020,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,521,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,059,821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 165.3% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,899,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,159,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183,298 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on XEL shares. TheStreet lowered shares of Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Barclays upgraded Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $61.00 to $54.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com raised Xcel Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Xcel Energy from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Xcel Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.08.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of XEL stock opened at $53.17 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.56, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $54.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.24. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $46.79 and a twelve month high of $71.32.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $3.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 12.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.69 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a $0.548 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 68.22%.

Xcel Energy Company Profile

Xcel Energy Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, purchasing, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility, and All Other segments. The company generates electricity through wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, and solar energy sources, as well as coal, natural gas, oil, wood, and refuse-derived fuels.