Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Shares Sold by Anchor Capital Advisors LLC

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 623,314 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,606 shares during the quarter. Xcel Energy makes up approximately 1.3% of Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC owned 0.11% of Xcel Energy worth $46,038,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Xcel Energy by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,610,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,732,334,000 after acquiring an additional 885,085 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Xcel Energy by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,896,553 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,914,984,000 after buying an additional 1,752,296 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 9.9% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 28,851,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,326,872,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589,406 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 4.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 21,026,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,695,748,000 after acquiring an additional 831,639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,496,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,214,035,000 after acquiring an additional 126,498 shares during the period. 78.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XEL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Argus set a $86.00 price target on Xcel Energy in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 price objective on Xcel Energy in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings raised Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Xcel Energy from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.63.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $77.87 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.21 and a fifty-two week high of $84.23. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $79.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.56. The firm has a market cap of $48.61 billion, a PE ratio of 22.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.91. The company had revenue of $4.02 billion during 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 revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

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

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.