M&T Bank Corp Sells 4,856 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

M&T Bank Corp trimmed its position in Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL – Get Rating) by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 133,888 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,856 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Xcel Energy were worth $8,570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in XEL. Natixis lifted its position in Xcel Energy by 512.0% during the second quarter. Natixis now owns 2,949,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,371,000 after purchasing an additional 2,467,364 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,043,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,611,630,000 after acquiring an additional 1,263,127 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Xcel Energy by 1,120.8% during the 3rd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,269,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,216,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165,050 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC increased its holdings in Xcel Energy by 1,039.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,145,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,284,000 after acquiring an additional 1,044,568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 93.6% during the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,005,640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,919,000 after purchasing an additional 969,776 shares in the last quarter. 77.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Xcel Energy

In related news, SVP Frank P. Prager sold 737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $47,905.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 29,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,907,100. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. UBS Group raised their price target on Xcel Energy to $68.00 in a report on Monday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Xcel Energy from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group cut Xcel Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.80.

Xcel Energy Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:XEL opened at $67.31 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $67.81 and its 200 day moving average is $66.87. The stock has a market cap of $37.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.41. Xcel Energy Inc. has a 52-week low of $56.89 and a 52-week high of $77.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.69. Xcel Energy had a net margin of 11.34% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The business had revenue of $4.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.58 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.37 EPS for the current year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. This is a positive change from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 14th. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.51%.

About Xcel Energy

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Xcel Energy, Inc operates as a holding company engaged in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates through the following three segments: Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility and All Others. The Regulated Electric Utility segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity primarily in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico.