Hsbc Holdings PLC Increases Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,290,155 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 17,833 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $95,355,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of XEL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 885,085 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Xcel Energy by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,340,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,704,534,000 after acquiring an additional 444,092 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in 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 valued at $2,326,872,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589,406 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Xcel Energy by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 24,572,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,814,920,000 after acquiring an additional 3,546,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 0.8% during 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

XEL opened at $81.96 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $79.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.63. Xcel Energy Inc. has a twelve month low of $66.56 and a twelve month high of $84.23. 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 company has a market capitalization of $51.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.39.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 14.14% and a return on equity of 10.37%. Xcel Energy’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.5925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on XEL. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $98.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Argus set a $86.00 target price on Xcel Energy in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Xcel Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.29.

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.