Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Has $2.35 Million Holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 175.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 29,147 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,550 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $2,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. TIAA Trust National Association increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 1.0% during the third quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 12,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,022,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 9.1% in the third quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 1,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Segment Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 2.2% during the third quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $500,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in Xcel Energy by 0.7% during the second quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 19,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,307,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Warwick Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Xcel Energy by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Warwick Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on XEL shares. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Xcel Energy from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group raised Xcel Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $81.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Argus upgraded Xcel Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Mizuho set a $86.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Xcel Energy in a report on Friday, February 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.60.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Xcel Energy stock opened at $81.00 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.61. Xcel Energy Inc. has a one year low of $65.21 and a one year high of $84.23. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $50.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.68, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.45.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96. The firm had revenue of $3.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 13.76%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 20th. Stockholders 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 is a boost from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Xcel Energy Company 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.