Forsta AP Fonden Sells 10,600 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Forsta AP Fonden lowered its stake in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 127,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,600 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $9,380,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of XEL. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the third quarter worth $27,000. Abound Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 394.5% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 361 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Strategies CORP bought a new position in shares of Xcel Energy in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 471 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Collier Financial bought a new position in Xcel Energy in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XEL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Xcel Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Argus set a $86.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.63.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

Xcel Energy stock opened at $79.50 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $49.63 billion, a PE ratio of 22.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $79.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.60. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.21 and a 12-month high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.91. The company had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.21 billion. Xcel Energy had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 14.14%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.5925 per share. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Xcel Energy’s payout ratio is 68.30%.

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.