Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 908 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 5.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,715 shares of the company’s stock after selling 908 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $1,183,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of XEL. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its position in Xcel Energy by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 731 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Xcel Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its position in Xcel Energy by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 827 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Wealth Advisors grew its position in Xcel Energy by 160.0% during the 4th quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on XEL. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $78.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.80.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 1.9%

XEL stock opened at $67.91 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.61. The company has a market capitalization of $39.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.70. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.97 and a 12 month high of $73.38.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $3.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.93 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 14.10%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.06%.

About Xcel Energy

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.