Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL Shares Purchased by BNP Paribas Financial Markets

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 21.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,646,206 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 292,226 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $121,589,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,725,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,187,929,000 after acquiring an additional 2,001,018 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Xcel Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,994,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 86.6% in the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 41,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,339,000 after buying an additional 19,214 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 491.3% in the fourth quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 21,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,583,000 after buying an additional 17,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 135.3% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,017,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,729,000 after buying an additional 1,160,205 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on XEL shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 target price on shares of Xcel Energy in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Xcel Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.63.

Xcel Energy Stock Performance

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

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.91. The business 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $2.37 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.