Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Invests $569,000 in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 7,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $569,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $240,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 30.7% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $978,000 after acquiring an additional 3,242 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 40.7% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 48,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,434,000 after acquiring an additional 14,029 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Xcel Energy in the second quarter worth $389,000. Finally, Savant Capital LLC increased its position in Xcel Energy by 6.2% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 32,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,914 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on XEL. Morgan Stanley set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $81.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, BTIG Research set a $94.00 price objective on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $88.60.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $82.52 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a market capitalization of $51.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.45. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96. The company had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 13.76% and a return on equity of 10.46%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 66.67%.

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.