American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 105,903 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,367,033 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 105,903 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $271,551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,725,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,187,929,000 after buying an additional 2,001,018 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its position in Xcel Energy by 86.6% in the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 41,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,339,000 after acquiring an additional 19,214 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new position in Xcel Energy during the third quarter worth about $6,994,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy by 2,324.9% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,716,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,645,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VCI Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,176,000. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $83.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $52.01 billion, a PE ratio of 24.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.07. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 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 10.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 66.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on XEL. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. BTIG Research set a $94.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $80.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $91.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $88.60.

Xcel Energy Profile

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.