Raymond James & Associates Acquires 358,099 Shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL)

Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:XEL) by 114.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 671,171 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 358,099 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.12% of Xcel Energy worth $41,552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Xcel Energy during the 1st quarter worth $302,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,318,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,163,000 after buying an additional 104,140 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC acquired a new position in Xcel Energy during the 1st quarter worth $1,385,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 33,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,424,000 after buying an additional 3,836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Xcel Energy by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. 78.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Xcel Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ XEL opened at $53.75 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.74, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.36. The business has a 50-day moving average of $56.02 and a 200-day moving average of $58.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Xcel Energy Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.79 and a fifty-two week high of $71.96.

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.02). Xcel Energy had a net margin of 12.47% and a return on equity of 10.78%. The firm had revenue of $3.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Xcel Energy Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Xcel Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.548 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Xcel Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.19 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. Xcel Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on XEL. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Xcel Energy from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Barclays raised Xcel Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $61.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Xcel Energy from $68.00 to $59.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Wolfe Research raised Xcel Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded Xcel Energy from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Xcel Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.08.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, purchasing, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility, and All Other segments. The company generates electricity through wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, and solar energy sources, as well as coal, natural gas, oil, wood, and refuse-derived fuels.