Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $18.20 Million Position in Xcel Energy Inc. $XEL

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 246,455 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,782 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $18,203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of XEL. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in Xcel Energy during the fourth quarter worth $240,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 30.7% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $978,000 after acquiring an additional 3,242 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 48,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,434,000 after acquiring an additional 14,029 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 4.8% during the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $694,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC raised its stake in Xcel Energy by 16.0% during the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 2,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on XEL shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded Xcel Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Xcel Energy from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Xcel Energy from $94.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Xcel Energy from $89.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.63.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of XEL stock opened at $79.04 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $79.81 and its 200-day moving average is $78.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.34 billion, a PE ratio of 22.78, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.39. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.21 and a 52 week high of $84.23.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.91 EPS 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 revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Dividend Announcement

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